The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to conduct the upcoming 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad. The league-stage of the tournament will be played in Maharashtra, the action will then shift to Ahmedabad for the playoff stage of the tournament.
“As of now, the Board is mulling organising the league stage in Maharashtra, and the playoffs in Ahmedabad," according to latest reports.
The probable four venues
Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium in Cricket Club of India, the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, and the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Gahunje, near Pune are reportedly going to be the four venues where the league phase of the competition will be conducted. The playoff games are likely to take place at The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah confirmed last week that the IPL will begin in the last week of March and will be played until the end of May. The mega auction is scheduled to take place on February 12-13.
The IPL 2020 edition took place in United Arab Emirates due to the Covid-19 pandemic that had highly impacted the world. The first leg of IPL 2021 took place in India and later the second phase was taken back to UAE as the second wave of the pandemic played a spoilsport.
Other takeaways
However, it is also understood that the 15th season of the IPL will be held in India this time but without crowds, if the situation remains delicate.
The report further stated that the BCCI could allow 25 percent of crowd in the league-stage games, if the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic remains to be under control.
“If the number of positive cases aren’t high around that time, the state government authorities are likely to allow around 25% capacity crowds for this year’s IPL,” the source further said.
Meanwhile, IPL 2022 would be a grand affair with two new sides- Lucknow and Ahmedabad, joining the league.
The Ahmedabad franchise had previously named India all-rounder Hardik Pandya as their captain and the Lucknow side on the other hand, will have KL Rahul as their skipper of the side.
