The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Saturday decided that the playoffs of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will start from 7:30 pm (IST) instead of the scheduled 8 pm start (IST).
The 11th edition of the T20 extravaganza had seen the playoff games beginning at 7 pm (IST).
Speaking to IANS, a BCCI executive said that dew will be an important factor down south while the host broadcasters, Star Sports, had already requested for an early start as the playoffs will be followed by an elaborate presentation ceremony.
“We have the playoffs in the south where dew is a huge factor. Also, Star had written to us to prepone the timings. If you realise, there is the case of an extended presentation ceremony after the playoffs. Keeping all this in mind, it was felt that we should bring it forward,” a BCCI official said.
In the ongoing league stage fixtures, some of the matches got over at midnight, which even drew flak from the fans.
“We have taken everything into consideration. Even the broadcasters had written to us, so we decided to tweak the timings,” the official added.
Qualifier 1 of IPL 2019 will be played in Chennai on May 7, Eliminator and Qualifier 2 in Vizag on May 8 and 10 while the final will be held in Hyderabad on May 12.
The CoA also decided that the first couple of matches and the final of the Women’s T20 Challenge fixtures will be played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur from 7:30 pm (IST), while the third game, scheduled on May 9, will begin at 3:30 pm (IST).
“As far as the women’s tournament is concerned, this is just a beginning and we want the schedule to be spectator-friendly,” the official said.
