IPL 2020: MI and CSK to face-off in the opening game of the tournament

The upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season is set to commence on March 29. There were reports earlier this week that the tournament will not be starting on March 29 after the ICC has turned down BCCI’s request to shift its board meeting. However, the 13th edition of the cash-rich league will start on the same day with the defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) taking on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede stadium.

A total of six doubleheaders will be played this season contrary to the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly‘s statement who had earlier said that the number would be five. Having said that, probably for the first time in the history of the tournament, the doubleheaders are set to be played only on Sunday and only one match will be played on Saturday.

Interestingly, the IPL is yet to make an official announcement but for now the schedule of the league phase is only out according to ESPNCricinfo. The last league game will be played on May 17 between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Final to be played on May 24

With no doubleheaders on Saturday, the league stage has been stretched to 50 days this season. While the schedule for the playoffs is unknown yet, the final of the IPL 2020 will be played on May 24. Also, apart from the Rajasthan Royals (RR), all other seven franchises have retained their home bases.

The Royals who are getting their campaign underway on April 2, are willing to host their second and third match against the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 5 and 9 respectively in Guwahati. But the officials of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) are objecting this move from the franchise even pleas have been filed in court as well.

Moreover, the IPL is starting only 11 days after the ODI series between India and South Africa ends (on March 18) which is against the Lodha Committee recommendations who had said that there should be a fortnight’s gap. Also, there are no details about the All Stars Match which is likely to be held three days before the start of the IPL according to earlier announcements.

Meanwhile, even as the BCCI or IPL didn’t officially announce the schedule, the likes of SRH, RCB and KKR released their respective schedules on their social media platforms.

Here’s their schedule:

Note: Full schedule will be updated here once the IPL officially announces it.