The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League will take place entirely in India, and will start on March 23, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Tuesday.
“The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Tuesday met in New Delhi to discuss the VIVO IPL 2019 venues and window. Based on the preliminary discussions with the appropriate central and state agencies/authorities, it was decided that the 12th edition of the world’s most popular and competitive T20 tournament will be scheduled to be played in India.
“It is proposed that the VIVO IPL 2019 will commence on March 23, 2019. The detailed schedule will be finalized in consultation with the appropriate authorities. The COA will then have detailed discussion with all the Stakeholders before releasing the VIVO IPL 2019 Schedule,” the BCCI press release read.
It is likely that the full IPL schedule will be out in early February. In addition to the home bases of the eight franchises, around four to six additional grounds have been shortlisted as back-up. Once the Election Commission of India announces the final dates for the polls, the IPL will consider if any of these venues would need changing.
Although the BCCI has not announced the date for the final, it is likely to be between May 12 and 15. As per norm the defending champion gets the rights to host the tournament opener and the final. So Chennai will get both those key matches. More clarity on the situation is expected once the poll dates in the city are made public.
However, the biggest challenge for the franchises is that the IPL 2019 will end a couple of weeks before the ICC Cricket World Cup begins on May 30 in England. As a result, the availability of overseas players towards the tail-end of the season is a bit unclear.
