The Board of Control for Cricket in India has expedited execution strategy for the Indian Premier League 2020 in the UAE. The board is taking all stakeholders into confidence and sharing the information with them unofficially.
The formal dossier will only be rolled out after a nod from the IPL Governing Council, which is will meet later this week.
Going ahead with its plans, the BCCI has also locked down the IPL 2020 schedule with the matches to be played across three venues in the UAE. The Emirates Cricket Board has been given a formal consent to stage the 13th edition of the cash rich league.
Also read: Emirates Cricket Board confirms BCCI consent to stage IPL
The season opener in the UAE will be a replay of the last year’s final with Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings on Saturday, August 19, at 8:00 pm (6:30 pm UAE time), a franchisee official has confirmed to SporzFront on condition of anonymity. The two teams were earlier slated to play the opener in Mumbai on March 29 as per the original IPL schedule this year.
No IPL games in the UAE will be played during the day time. The double headers on the weekend will have a simultaneous 8:00 pm IST start.
The second day of the tournament on August 20, Sunday, is scheduled to have two matches when Delhi Capitals will play Kings XI Punjab and Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will run into Shah Rukh Khan co-owned Kolkata Knight Riders.
The final is slated for November 8.
The venues for the matches have so far not been finalised.