Star, BCCI contemplate IPL 2022 start date

Onecricket

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction done and dusted, the excitement of the fans have gone beyond the roof as they cannot wait for their favourite franchise-based competition to begin.


While it was earlier reported that the upcoming season will mark its arrival on March 27, plans are yet to be finalised as Disney Star has proposed to start the tournament a day earlier. With March 26 a Saturday, Star wants the tournament to have a double-header in its initial days, which is not possible if the competition starts on March 27, reported Cricbuzz.


"We understand that a Saturday start helps the broadcaster to kick-start the league with a bang with three matches in the first weekend. A Sunday inauguration would not permit that. The BCCI and the broadcasters were in discussion over this and eventually it could be on March 26," Cricbuzz quoted a franchise official as saying.


Earlier, the franchises were to be given the schedule of the upcoming season by February 20 but as the BCCI is still pondering upon the opening day, it has pushed things a little further.


The league is likely to be played in four venues in Maharashtra. However, there has been no official announcement from the BCCI.


Star has prepared a window of March 19 to June 17 for the commentators and notified them to be available in this period.


"At the onset, wanted to check with you on your availability for IPL 2022 on the world feed broadcast. So request you to please provide your availability not only for the tournament but probably say minus 8-10 days from the start date and plus five days from the end date to be safe, so effectively from 19th March 2022 to say June 7, 2022 (sic)," Star sent a mail to the commentators.

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