The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday, February 22, announced the schedule for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is set to begin on March 22. The curtain-raiser will be a matchup between the southern rivals in Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. CSK won the IPL trophy for a joint-record fifth time after they defeated then defending champions Gujarat Titans in a final-ball thriller at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. This might be the final season of IPL for Indian legend and CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who hinted after the final in 2023 that he might be done with IPL for good following the 2024 season.
In what was a not-so-surprising announcement, the BCCI announced the IPL 2024 schedule for only the first 17 days – from March 22 to April 7. The reason behind this is the clash between the dates of IPL and the General Elections in the country, which are held every five years.
IPL 2024 Schedule – Full List
“We are looking at a March 22 start for the tournament. We are working closely with the government agencies and we will first release the initial schedule. The entire tournament will be held in India,” IPL chairman Arun Singh Dhumal told PTI last week.
We can expect the full IPL 2024 schedule to be released once the dates of this year’s General Elections are announced. Meanwhile, the first 17 days will see 21 games be played across 11 cities. Alongside the 10 cities which are acting as the base of the franchises, Visakhapatnam will host two home games for the Delhi Capitals.
Of those 17 games, Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be playing five games each. GT will begin their campaign against Mumbai Indians in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 24. DC will play their first game away from home, against Punjab Kings at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. RCB, as mentioned earlier, will participate in the season opener against 2023 champions CSK at Chepauk.
Kolkata Knight Riders are the team that will play the least number of matches in the first phase of IPL 2024. KKR will play three games: against SRH (Eden Gardens), RCB (M. Chinnaswamy Stadium) and DC (ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium). The remaining six franchises (MI, CSK, LSG, PBKS, RR, SRH) will play four games each.
The final of IPL 2024 is expected to be played in the final week of May, following which the international players will head to the Americas to participate in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be played from June 1 to June 29.
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