IPL Rescheduled and New Dates Confirmed

The originally planned IPL during the spring had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The issues inside India, plus those faced by players all over the world made it impossible to stage the event.

At the time, the BCCI said the tournament had been postponed and a new date would be made later in the year. After many discussions with new hosts, player representatives, TV companies and sponsors, we now have an agreed date in place for the 2020 IPL.

2020 IPL Dates & Format

The new start date for the IPL has been confirmed as September 19 while the final will be played on November 10.

This gives the tournament 53 days in which to complete and to help with that, a total of 10 afternoon games have been scheduled, giving fans back to back cricket to enjoy. The afternoon games will take place at 15:30 IST while the traditional evening games will begin at 19:30 IST.

Each of the eight franchises will be allowed to name a squad of 24 players for the tournament, but there is one key rule in place for this season only. This is that teams will be able to add an unlimited number of Covid-19 replacements should there be any issues with members of their squad. We have seen a number of different sports and leagues adapting their rules due to the pandemic, this is the IPL’s way of doing that.

Where Will the Tournament be Played?

The IPL has had to move away from India, due to the rising number of cases in the country. Therefore, the IPL in 2020 will all be played in the UAE. This is not the first time this has happened, we have seen IPL games in the UAE in the past. The Asian gaming market is a strong one, they love sports and relish the chance to have top-tier competitions in the area.

Three venues have been named to host games, these are Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. This is all subject to local government approval at the moment, but that is supposedly just a case of formally agreeing things and releasing it, something that should happen in the next few days.

This all means no home advantage of any IPL team this season, which is going to change the makeup of the tournament and a big weight will be placed on who can adapt the quickest. This will also have an impact on betting on games, with no home advantage to think about. Betting in India is now legal across a number of sites and the IPL offers a wide range of betting markets and possibilities.

Women’s IPL Also Given Go Ahead

Great news for the women’s game, their version of the IPL has also been given the go ahead to take place in the UAE. Just three teams will take part, and play a total of four games, three in the group stages followed by a final between the top two teams.

These are scheduled to take place during the playoff week of the men’s event, when gaps are available for the women to play, though this has not been confirmed yet.

The easy option for those organising things would have been to leave the women out of things for a year, until we got back to normal in India but they have worked to ensure the women can also play and that is fantastic to see.

Discussions about Bubble Environment

One of the most important elements of the tournament which is still to be decided is how the players will live and interact with each other.

We have seen bubble environments work well for a number of leagues around the world, including the NBA which has all players in Florida at the moment. Discussions are currently taking place surrounding an IPL bubble which will be created in the UAE.

This should keep players safe while they are there, and assuming the protocols are followed correctly and no one breaches the boundaries, if everyone is clear of Covid-19 when they arrive, they should be able to remain that way for the duration of the tournament.

A company named the Tata Group and the BCCI have already had discussions about setting up a bubble for players to enter during the tournament, and these are expected to continue. Adding a bubble environment would certainly raise the chances of big-name internationals travelling for the event.

We have seen England and the West Indies recently form a cricket bubble to play three test matches against each other. It appeared to work well and should give confidence to those thinking of playing in the IPL if a similar situation is set up.