Official: IPL 2020 confirmed! Details inside

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League is all set to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 19 to November 10, 2020, marking the first ever IPL final scheduled to happen on a weekday.

Following the Indian government’s approval to allow the tournament to happen this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, BCCI’s secretary Jay Shah stated, “The Indian Premier League Governing Council (IPL GC) met today via video-conference to decide on the issues concerning the VIVO IPL 2020 edition. Taking note of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in India, the IPL GC decided to stage the tournament in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the matches will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi subject to necessary clearances from the Government of India. VIVO IPL 2020 will be played from 19th September and the final will be played on 10th November 2020. The 53-day tournament will witness 10-afternoon matches starting at 15:30 IST while the evening matches will start at 19:30 IST.”

The players will be departing to the UAE on August 26, with each team being allowed to have a maximum of 24 players in their squad. The stadiums will initially witness no spectators but limited number of audience might be allowed midway through the tournament, subject to approval by the UAE government. If one (or more) player(s) is infected with the novel coronavirus, he is allowed to be replaced by another player. BCCI has retained all of its sponsors, including the Chinese title sponsors VIVO. A BCCI statement reportedly mentioned, “The SOPs will be finalised and published in due course, including the agencies to execute and deliver a bio-secure environment for safe and successful conduct of IPL.”

IPL 2020 was originally scheduled to begin on March 29. The matches were initially postponed to mid-April following the global concern over the coronavirus pandemic. The BCCI had then announced the official suspension of the tournament until further notice.