IPL 2020: MI to take on CSK in opening match at Abu Dhabi

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 6, 2020: The IPL Governing Council on Sunday announced the much-awaited schedule for Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020 to be held in UAE. The season will kickstart on 19 September in Abu Dhabi with a blockbuster clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, announced BCCI Secretary Jay Shah.

After the tournament opener on Saturday, Dubai will host its first game on Sunday (20 September) when Delhi Capitals take on Kings XI Punjab followed by the third match on Monday (21 September) between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The IPL action will then shift to Sharjah on Tuesday, 22nd September where Rajasthan Royals will host Chennai Super Kings.

Moved out of India due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, the upcoming edition of the world’s biggest T20 league will be held in the three venues of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE.

Here’s the complete schedule of the tournament:

This time, both the afternoon and evening matches will be played half-an-hour earlier than usual. There will be ten double headers with the first match starting at 3:30 PM IST and 2:00 PM UAE time. All evening matches will start at 7:30 PM IST and 6:00PM UAE time. In all, 24 matches will be held in Dubai, 20 in Abu Dhabi and 12 in Sharjah. The final match of the 2020 edition is scheduled to be played on a weekday, i.e. Tuesday, for the first time in the history of the T20 tournament.

Venues for the playoffs and the Dream11 IPL 2020 final will be announced later.

The upcoming 53-day edition is by far the longest in the history of the league and is being held under extraordinary conditions owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

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.

Also, due to different quarantine rules in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, IPL’s operations team took time to finalise the schedule.

As per IPL rules, the defending champions and the last year’s runner-up face off in the tournament opener. The same is going to happen this year after concerns over Chennai Super Kings’ readiness were erased with their first practice session in Dubai on Friday.

CSK were the last franchise to hit the nets after clearing final rounds of COVID-19 testing.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and all other CSK players, except for the COVID-19 afflicted duo of Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, started training on Friday.

With Deepak and Ruturaj testing positive last week along with 11 members of the CSK contingent, the team was forced to delay its training plan after completing the six-day quarantine, including three tests, upon arrival on August 21.

The virus free players had to undergo three additional tests before beginning their training on Friday. The infected players are in 14-day quarantine.

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.

All the teams would be staying in a bio-secure bubble as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus.