The IPl governing council on Wednesday announced that the first leg of the tournament to be held in the United Arab Emirates will have 20 matches in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi from April 16 to 30.
The opening match of the seventh edition of the Indian Premier league (IPl) will be played between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on April 16 in Abu Dhabi, the IPl GC said in a statement announcing the schedule for the first phase of the tournament after a meeting in Chennai.
The UAE leg of the IPl, a part of which has been shifted out of the country due to general elections, will wind up on April 30 with Mumbai facing Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai.“The opening match on April 16 will be played in Abu Dhabi between @mipaltan and @KKRiders (8 pm IST/6:30 pm local),” the IPl organisers announced in a series of tweets.
“20 matches will be played in 3 stadiums: Sheikh Zayed Stadium-Abu Dhabi, Sharjah CA Stadium, Dubai International Cricket Stadium #PepsiIPl. “The IPl GC has confirmed that the first phase of the #PepsiIPl 2014 season matches will be played in the UAE from April 16-30,” another tweet said.
The second leg of the IPl — from May 1 to 12 — for which Bangladesh has been kept as a standby venue, could be held in India itself with the organisers on Wednesday claiming that state governments want to host the matches once polling for general elections is completed in their areas.
The IPl has been refused security by the government as its schedule is clashing with the general elections, scheduled to be held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12. “Pursuant to the initiative taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, many State Governments have indicated that IPl matches can be conducted in their respective states,” BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said after the IPl Governing council meeting. “Based on the responses received so far, the BCCI believes that the Pepsi IPl 2014 can be conducted in India from the first week of May,” he added.
The schedule for the remaining 40 matches will be announced in due course. The last leg of the IPl from May 13, including the play-offs and the final slated for June 1, will be held in India. This is the second time the event has had to be forced out of the country due to elections. In 2009, the entire tournament had to be shifted to South Africa, a country which was in contention to host the event even this time.
Due to the lesser number of teams, the duration of the league has also been shortened this time to 47 days and 60 matches — much less than the 76 games played last season which was spread over 54 days.
HPCA seeks govt nod to hold IPl matches
Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Wednesday approached the state government to allow it to host the IPl matches at the picturesque Dharamsala stadium in May, an official said. “We have requested the state to allow holding of cricket matches from May 10 to 14,” HPCA spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said.
He said since the lok Sabha elections in the state would be held on May 7 and the counting of votes is scheduled May 16, the matches could be played in between the two dates.