BCCI eyes Mar 10 to May 15 IPL window amid heat concerns: Devajit Saikia

In its bid to beat the extreme May heat in most parts of the country, the BCCI is contemplating an early start to the IPL, eyeing a March 10-May 15 window for future editions starting next year, Board secretary Devajit Saikia told PTI in an exclusive interview. However, he made it clear that due to international calender constraints, the number of matches will remain 74 and not be increased to 94.

The IPL usually gets underway in the last week of March and winds up towards the end of May. Saikia said an early IPL would protect the interest of both players as well as the paying public.

“This year, IPL started around March 29th (28th), and it was over by May 31. Only thing which we are discussing is that during the fag end of the tournament, after May 15...there is apprehension of having rainfall or pre-monsoon season starting.

“On the other hand, there is hot weather, which is not very conducive either for the players or for the crowds,” Saikia said in the interaction.

He said the BCCI is working on advancing the itinerary by two weeks to beat the rising mercury during the latter part of May.

“So therefore, there is a discussion going on in BCCI as well as in our IPL Governing Council regarding whether we can start the tournament a little bit earlier than the fag end of March,” he said.

“From next year, we will make an effort and I have already instructed our General Manager (Games Development) (former pacer Abbey Kuruvilla) to look for the windows whether we can start it by the 10th of March and conclude it by the 15th of May. So that there are no adverse weather conditions in the run-up to the playoff and the finals of the IPL 2027, which will be the 20th edition,” Saikia informed.