The Indian Premier League (IPL) is back with its 15th edition just 6 months after the completion of the 14th season which was played in two phases due to the Covid outbreak in the country.
This season of IPL will be different from the rest as two new teams Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans are set to make their debut in the upcoming season. Also, the mega auction has changed the dynamics of many teams as most of the teams have a new-looking squad and a new face in the leadership as well. This year, the entire league is set to be staged in India along with a crowd in attendance after 2019. Also, the entire tournament will be played in Maharashtra.
Amidst so much information and news about the IPL, we have decided to make most of those available in this article:
When and where is the IPL starting?
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will take on Kolkata Knight Riders on March 26 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to kick off the 15th season of the IPL. While that match will start at 7.30 pm IST, there will be a total of 12 double-headers this season, when the first game will start at 3.30 pm IST, and the second at 7.30 pm.
What is the new format of the league given that two new teams have been added?
The 2022 IPL will have the ten teams split into two virtual groups of five each for the league stage. Mumbai Indians and Super Kings – the two most successful sides in the IPL – have been placed in separate groups.
Each team will play 14 league games this time as well, for a total of 70 games before the playoffs. Each team will play the other teams in the same group and one from the other group (in the same row as the table below) twice and the remaining teams in the other group once for a total of 14 games. For example, Mumbai will play teams from their own group and only Super Kings from the other group twice, and the remaining teams from Group B just once.
Where will all the games be staged this year?
To minimize the exposure to the risks of Covid-19 while traveling across India, this time the IPL will be played across four venues in and around Mumbai and Pune. The four grounds to be used are the Wankhede Stadium and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, and the MCA Stadium in Pune.
If there is no home-and-away concept, how has the schedule been made?
To make it a level-playing field across the four stadia, the schedule has been drafted in such a way that teams will play four matches each at the Wankhede and DY Patil, and three each at the Brabourne and the MCA Stadium. On paper at least, rivals might feel it gives Mumbai an advantage because they will get to play four games at the Wankhede, their original home ground, although they last played there in 2019.
How long will the league last?
These 70 league games will go on for 58 days from March 26 to May 22, before the playoffs, for which the venues and the schedule have not been announced yet. The final will be played on May 29.
What happens if a player or squad member tests positive for Covid-19 during the IPL?
The participant who tests positive will have to isolate for a minimum of seven days, and during that period, he will be tested on the sixth and seventh days. For him to re-enter the team’s bio-secure environment, he will have to provide two consecutive negative RT-PCR tests taken 24 hours apart, full resolution of symptoms, see that there are no fresh symptoms for more than 24 hours and that there has been no use of medications for more than 24 hours.
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