IPL 2022 will be a ten-team affair with the addition of two new franchises. (Twitter/@IPL)
The BCCI on Saturday confirmed that the tournament will begin in the last week of March and will continue till May.
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The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be a two-month long affair which is scheduled to begin in the last week of March and will go on till the end of May, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has confirmed to news agency ANI. With two new teams: Ahmedabad and Lucknow, the IPL was about to get longer with 74 league games played between ten teams. According to the reports, the tournament will start from March 27.
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“I am happy to confirm that the 15th season of IPL will start in the last week of March and will go on till the end of May. Most of the team owners expressed their desire that the tournament be held in India. The BCCI has always been keen to organize the 2022 edition, which will see two new teams – Ahmedabad and Lucknow – in India. I can tell you that we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that IPL remains in India. The BCCI has not compromised on the health and safety of its stakeholders in the past and will simultaneously work on Plan B as the COVID-19 situation with the new forms remains fluid. The mega IPL auction will be held on February 12-13 and we will lock down the venues before that,” Shah told ANI.
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To avoid the debacle of 2021 where the tournament was called off with the increasing number of cases in the teams, the BCCI is holding off on the single city tournament. In such a situation, Mumbai with multiple grounds will host the tournament. Ahmedabad may also get some play-off matches. If the situation is not possible with a possible resurgence in Covid cases, the tournament may be shifted to South Africa or the UAE. The final decision will be taken just before the mega auction.
The tournament was played at several venues in 2021, which eventually led to its collapse, as several players contracted the virus while traveling, possibly at airport terminals. BCCI is keen not to repeat the same mistake. The tournament was called off on 4 May, and then resumed in September in the UAE where Chennai Super Kings won the trophy in the final. India is currently going through the third wave of the pandemic with the Omicron edition dominating the country. Although the situation is less dire than in the second wave, the high transmission rate has forced many state governments to impose restrictions.
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