IPL 2020 Schedule: MI to face CSK in season opener on September 19
September 7, 2020
IPL 2020 Schedule, Fixtures, Venue, Start Date, Match Timings: The IPL Governing Council announced the schedule of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 season on Sunday. The season will start with a Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings match on September 19.
Moved out of India due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, the upcoming 13th edition of IPL will be held in the three venues of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah in the UAE.
“The season will kickstart on 19th September in Abu Dhabi with a blockbuster clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings,” said a statement.
After the opener on Saturday, Dubai will host its first game on the next day — Delhi Capitals will take on Kings XI Punjab. After Sunrisers Hyderabad’s clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday, the IPL action will shift to Sharjah on September 22 where Rajasthan Royals will host Chennai Super Kings.
The league phase will run across 46 days, with the last match of the league to be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians in Sharjah on November 3.
There will be 10 double-headers with the first match starting at 3:30PM IST. The first double-header is on October 3 — RCB vs RR in Abu Dhabi, and DC vs KKR in Sharjah.
All evening matches will start at 7:30PM IST. In all, 24 matches will be held in Dubai, 20 in Abu Dhabi, and 12 in Sharjah.
The venues for the playoffs and the IPL 2020 final will be announced later.
The schedule was expected to be out in the last week of August but the announcement was delayed after 13 personnel of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) camp tested positive for the dreaded virus.
This year’s IPL was originally scheduled to be held from March 29 to May 24 but was postponed barely two weeks before the start of the tournament due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Then, as the number of cases increased, the league was indefinitely postponed but the postponement of the T20 World Cup cleared the decks for the league to take place in the September-November window.
