IPL 2021 set to begin on April 9, First match between MI and RCB

IPL 2021 will start in Chennai on April 9 with the match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the BCCI has told the IPL franchises. In a mail to the IPL teams on Sunday (March 7) morning, BCCI confirmed a Cricbuzz report that Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata will be hosting the league that will run till May 30.

The Narendra Modi Cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, where the recent pink-ball Test against England was played, will host the playoffs on May 25, May 26 and May 28, and the final on May 30.

BCCI:

BCCI has also confirmed that the tournament will begin behind closed doors, and a call on letting spectators in will be taken at a later stage.

Each team will play in four of the six centres in the group stage. The 56 league stage matches have been split in 10 games each in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, while Delhi and Ahmedabad will host eight. The afternoon games will begin at 3:30 PM IST, while the evening matches at 7:30 PM IST.

There will be 11 double headers, with six teams playing three afternoon matches each and two teams playing two. BCCI also stated that the fixture list has been drawn up in such a manner that every team will travel only three times during the league stage that goes on till May 23.

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"After hosting the tournament safely and successfully in the UAE last year with all safety protocols in place, the BCCI is confident of hosting the IPL at home with health and safety of players and all people involved being paramount," BCCI said in the release.

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