IPL 2020 schedule to be announced on September 6, confirms league chairman Brijesh Patel

The full schedule of Indian Premier League’s 13th season will be announced on September 6, league chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed on Saturday. The tournament will be held between September 19 and November 10 in the United Arab Emirates.

While the tournament gets underway on Saturday, the final will be played on a weekday for the first time in its 13-year history. The match timings have also been revised to 7:30 pm IST for the evening games, instead of 8 pm IST which was the norm in the past. The season will consist of 10 afternoon matches.

The 53-day tournament was originally scheduled to be played from March 29 to May 4 but it had to be postponed by nearly 6 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) could only find the September-November window after the International Cricket Council postponed the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia due to the corona crisis.

“Schedule of IPL 2020 that starts from 19th September in UAE will be released tomorrow (September 6),” IPL chairman Brijesh Patel said.

All 8 teams have completed their quarantine period in the UAE with Chennai Super Kings being the latest team to start training outdoors.

13 members, including fast bowler Deepak Chahar and batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad, of the franchise had tested positive for Covid-19 because of which they had to self-isolate in their hotel rooms for an additional 7 days.

IPL 2020 will be played in bio-bubble environments in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Players completed a mandatory 6-day quarantine period during which they were tested for Covid-19 thrice.

Meanwhile, the Women’s T20 Challenge will also take place in the UAE and will comprise three teams with four matches to be played during the IPL Playoff week.