The stage is set for the cash rich Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season and in the recent development it has been learnt that the 70 league matches will be held in Mumbai and Pune. 55 matches will be spread over three venues in Mumbai — Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium as 15 more matches will be played at the MCA International Stadium in Pune, as per the reports.
The fifteenth edition of the cash-rich domestic T20 tournament will now have ten teams competing for the coveted trophy.
As far as the dates are concerned, there are two start dates which is being contemplated. March 26 (Saturday) is the preference of the official broadcaster while the other option is to begin proceedings on March 27. The two options would primarily see a difference in the number of double-header games taking place.
In either scenario, the tournament is set to wrap up on Sunday, May 29. The venues for the playoffs are yet to be decided.
A final decision could be taken in the IPL governing council meeting scheduled for February 24 (Thursday).
Each team will face the other teams from their group twice. They will also face one team from the other group twice, and the other four teams once, making it a total of 14 matches per franchise in the group stage.
The points table will be a consolidated one, and not separate ones for the two groups. The playoffs will happen as they have been, with the top four teams qualifying for the knockout stages.
The two top-ranked teams will face off in Qualifier 1, while teams finishing third and fourth will play in the Eliminator. The losers of Qualifier 1 will play the winners of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2.
There have been reports in the past that the BCCI is keeping an alternate venue ready in case of a surge in Covid cases in the country. Other countries like South Africa were reported to be in the pipeline. But with the increased vaccination numbers and a dip in Covid-19 cases in the country, certainly encourage the board to stage IPL 2022 in India itself.
