New Delhi: The Governing Council of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday announced the two groups and the division of matches for the upcoming IPL 2022.
Keeping the new group divisions in mind, former cricketer and current commentator Aakash Chopra feels that five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians won’t be happy with their group opponents for IPL 2022.
Five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians have been grouped alongside Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, and Lucknow Super Giants in Group A.
As per the new rules, each team will be playing their group members twice and the team falling in the same row from the other group, while playing the remaining four teams only once. Hence Mumbai will also play twice against Chennai Super Kings, and once against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, and Gujarat Titans.
“Mumbai will be playing against Kolkata, Rajasthan, DC, Lucknow twice. They will also play two times against CSK. They will play all the tough teams two times but play only once against Sunrisers, RCB, Punjab, and Gujarat Titans. I think they won’t be very happy,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“Look at Hyderabad, they will be playing two times against Kolkata (from group A) and play once against Mumbai, DC, Rajasthan, and Lucknow. So they will be playing the tough teams only once, so win or lose it doesn’t matter much. Group A is going to be the tough one,” Chopra added.
Talking about the new IPL groups divisions, which is similar to IPL 2011, Chopra termed it better than the World Cup.
“It is not like that top teams from each group will make the playoffs. The top four will be decided based on the points gained from all the 14 matches that they play because every team is going to play at least once against each other. That is why I find this system better than World Cup’s, although it still isn’t the ideal one,” Chopra asserted.
IPL 2022 is scheduled to start from March 26 to May 29. The 10 teams will play a total of 14 League matches, 7 home matches, and 7 away matches totaling 70 league matches, followed by the 4 playoff matches.
