New Delhi: The Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council on Sunday (March 7) announced the schedule for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 to be held in India. The tournament set to kick-start on April 9 in Chennai and the final to take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium on May 30.
🚨 BCCI announces schedule for VIVO IPL 2021 🚨
The season will kickstart on 9th April in Chennai and the final will take place on May 30th at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
More details here – https://t.co/yKxJujGGcD #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/qfaKS6prAJ
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 7, 2021
After nearly two years, the IPL extravaganza will return home with Ahmedabad hosting the season opener between the defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. According to the press release, the Narendra Modi Cricket stadium in Ahmedabad will host the knockouts as well as the final of the tournament.
Also, each team is set to play at four venues during the league stage. Out of the 56 league matches, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru will host 10 matches each while Ahmedabad and Delhi will host 8 matches each.
There will be a total of 11 doubleheaders where six teams will play three-afternoon matches and two teams will play two-afternoon matches. The afternoon games are slated for a 3:30 PM start while the evening games will have 7:30 PM start.
The highlights of this edition will be the fact that all matches will be played at neutral venues, no team will play at their home. “After hosting the tournament safely and successfully in the UAE last year with all safety protocols in place, the BCCI is confident of hosting the IPL at home with health and safety of players and all people involved being paramount,” the BCCI said in a statement.
Last year, due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country, the cash-rich League event was moved out and contested in the UAE, the third time the IPL was played outside of India, after 2009 and 2014.
