MUMBAI: Even as BCCI secretary Jay Shah has confirmed “that the 15th season of the IPL will start in the last week of March and will run until May end”, The Hindu has put out a kick-off date.
As per the daily, the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League is “tentatively scheduled” to begin on March 27. The longer time line is to accommodate the 74 games that this year’s IPL will involve, following the addition of two new teams to world cricket’s richest annual franchise-based tournament.
The BCCI had earlier been eyeing April 2 as the start date for the IPL. “Since all the stakeholders have proposed lesser day games, the tournament may be advanced to March 27,” The Hindu, quoting an IPL insider, reports.
As already reported, while the BCCI’s first preference remains to host the IPL in India (in the Mumbai-Pune corridor), the alternative options are South Africa and UAE (in that order).
The BCCI is expected confirm the venue before next month’s mega player auction.
“A majority of the team owners expressed their wish that the tournament be held in India. The BCCI was always keen on staging the 2022 edition that will see two new teams – Ahmedabad and Lucknow – in India. I can tell you that we will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that IPL stays in India,” Shah has been quoted as having said.
“The BCCI has not compromised on the health and safety of its stakeholders in the past and will concurrently work on Plan B since the COVID-19 situation with new variants remains fluid. The mega IPL auction will take place on February 12-13th and we will lock in venues before that.”
As per The Hindu, while the BCCI had specified the UAE as Plan B, some of the franchises have requested a rethink considering “the dew factor making games lop-sided” during the last two years when the IPL was moved to the Emirates.
