MUMBAI, Sept 6: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday released the full schedule of the 13th edition of the IPL to be held in United Arab Emirates from September 19 which at one time looked set to be called off due to the prevailing Corona pandemic.
The two most successful IPL franchises – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings – will battle in the IPL 2020opener on September 19 in the UAE. These are the two teams that played the final of the 2019 IPL last year.
The IPL 2020 tournament opener between MI and CSK will be played in Abu Dhabi. The 13th edition of IPL will be played in three different venue in UAE – Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Dubai will host 24 round-robin matches – the most, followed by Abu Dhabi (20) and Sharjah (12). BCCI will announce the schedule of play-offs later. The final is slated to take place on November 10.
After the tournament opener on Saturday, Dubai will host its first game on Sunday when Delhi Capitals take on Kings XI Punjab followed by the third match on Monday between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The IPL action will shift to Sharjah on Tuesday, 22nd September where Rajasthan Royals will host Chennai Super Kings.
There will be 10 double headers with the first match starting at 3:30PM IST and 2:00PM UAE time. All evening matches will start at 7:30PM IST and 6:00PM UAE time.
All eight franchises reached UAE well in advance to adhere to the strict quarantine and bio-secure protocols. There were doubts over the on-time start of IPL as last year runner-ups Chennai Super Kings had reported 13 Covid-19 cases including two cricketers.
CSK, however, cleared all doubts by hitting the nets on Friday after clearing final rounds of Covid-19 testing. The Covid-positive players Deep Chahar and Ruturaja Gaikwad however were kept in isolation and did not train with the rest of the players. They will resume training once they test negative and clear further rounds of testing.
This is the first time an entire IPL will be played in UAE. In 2014, the first half of the tournament was played in UAE due to general elections in India. In 2009, for the same reason, the tournament was played in South Africa.
IPL 2020 Full Schedule: Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians will open IPL 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on September 19 as BCCI announced the full schedule on Sunday for the tournament set to begin in two weeks’ time.
Full schedule
September 19 — 7:30PM ABU DHABI MUMBAI INDIANS vs CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
September 20 — 7:30PM DUBAI DELHI CAPITALS vs KINGS XI PUNJAB
September 21 — 7:30PM DUBAI SUNRISERS HYDERABADvs ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
September 22 — 7:30PM SHARJAH RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
September 23 — 7:30PM ABU DHABI KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS vs MUMBAI INDIANS
September 24 — 7:30PM DUBAI KINGS XI PUNJAB vs ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
September 25 — 7:30PM DUBAI CHENNAI SUPER KINGS vs DELHI CAPITALS
September 26 — 7:30PM ABU DHABI KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS vs SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
September 27 — 7:30PM SHARJAH RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs KINGS XI PUNJAB
September 28 — 7:30PM DUBAI ROYAL CHALLENGERS vs BANGALORE MUMBAI INDIANS
September 29 —7:30PM ABU DHABI DELHI CAPITALS vs SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
September 30 —7:30PM DUBAI RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
October 1 —7:30PM ABU DHABI KINGS XI PUNJAB vs MUMBAI INDIANS
October 2 — 7:30PM DUBAI CHENNAI SUPER KINGS vs SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
October 3 —3:30PM ABU DHABI ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS
October 3 —7:30PM SHARJAH DELHI CAPITALS vs KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
October 4 —3:30PM SHARJAH MUMBAI INDIANS vs SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
October 4 —7:30PM DUBAI KINGS XI PUNJAB CHENNAI vs SUPER KINGS
October 5 —7:30PM DUBAI ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE vs DELHI CAPITALS
October 6 —7:30PM ABU DHABI MUMBAI INDIANS vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS
October 7 —7:30PM ABU DHABI KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS vs CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
October 8 —7:30PM DUBAI SUNRISERS HYDERABAD vs KINGS XI PUNJAB
October 9 —7:30PM SHARJAH RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs DELHI CAPITALS
October 10 —3:30PM ABU DHABI KINGS XI PUNJAB vs KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
October 10 —7:30PM DUBAI CHENNAI SUPER KINGS ROYAL vs CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
October 11 —3:30PM DUBAI SUNRISERS HYDERABAD vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS
October 11 —7:30PM ABU DHABI MUMBAI INDIANS vs DELHI CAPITALS
October 12 —7:30PM SHARJAH ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE vs KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
October 13 —7:30PM DUBAI SUNRISERS HYDERABAD vs CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
October 14 —7:30PM DUBAI DELHI CAPITALS vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS
October 15 —7:30PM SHARJAH ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE vs KINGS XI PUNJAB
October 16 —7:30PM ABU DHABI MUMBAI INDIANS vs KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
October 17 —3:30PM DUBAI RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
October 17 —7:30PM SHARJAH DELHI CAPITALS vs CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
October 18 —3:30PM ABU DHABI SUNRISERS HYDERABAD vs KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
October 18 —7:30PM DUBAI MUMBAI INDIANS vs KINGS XI PUNJAB
October 19 —7:30PM ABU DHABI CHENNAI SUPER KINGS vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS
October 20 —7:30PM DUBAI KINGS XI PUNJAB vs DELHI CAPITALS
October 21 —7:30PM ABU DHABI KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS vs ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
October 22 —7:30PM DUBAI RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
October 23 —7:30PM SHARJAH CHENNAI SUPER KINGS vs MUMBAI INDIANS
October 24 —3:30PM ABU DHABI KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS vs DELHI CAPITALS
October 24 —7:30PM DUBAI KINGS XI PUNJAB vs SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
October 25 —3:30PM DUBAI ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE vs CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
October 25 —7:30PM ABU DHABI RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs MUMBAI INDIANS
October 26 —7:30PM SHARJAH KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS vs KINGS XI PUNJAB
October 27 —7:30PM DUBAI SUNRISERS HYDERABAD vs DELHI CAPITALS
October 28 —7:30PM ABU DHABI MUMBAI INDIANS ROYAL vs CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
October 29 —7:30PM DUBAI CHENNAI SUPER KINGS vs KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
October 30 —7:30PM ABU DHABI KINGS XI PUNJAB vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS
October 31 —3:30PM DUBAI DELHI CAPITALS vs MUMBAI INDIANS
October 31 —7:30PM SHARJAH ROYAL CHALLENGERS vs BANGALORE SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
November 1 —3:30PM ABU DHABI CHENNAI SUPER vs KINGS KINGS XI PUNJAB
November 1 —7:30PM DUBAI KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS
November 2 —7:30PM ABU DHABI DELHI CAPITALS ROYAL vs CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
November 3 —7:30PM SHARJAH SUNRISERS HYDERABAD vs MUMBAI INDIANS
(Manas Dasgupta)