Cricket’s richest franchise tournament – the Indian Premier League (IPL) – is set to return this weekend as defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) begin their title defence at home against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The 17th season of the T20 league will begin on March 22 at 8pm local time (14:30 GMT) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in India’s southern city of Chennai, where the five-time champions can expect a rapturous welcome by the home crowd.
What’s the IPL schedule?
The nearly two-month-long tournament will begin on Friday, March 22. Last month, organisers announced a partial schedule for the first 21 fixtures until April 7 as the dates of India’s upcoming general election had not been announced at the time.
Issues related to the management and security of the tournament whilst the country goes to polls are understood to be behind the curtailed schedule announcement.
The election schedule was announced last week, with the polls running from April 19 to June 4, and IPL organisers are expected to release the dates of the remaining fixtures in the next few days.
Day games will begin at 3:30pm local time (10:00 GMT) and night games will begin at 7:30pm local time (14:00 GMT).
