The next season of the Indian Premier League is quickly approaching, and cricket fans are indeed looking forward to seeing this. This year’s auction is done, and we’re just really waiting for the next season IPL 2021. Here’s everything that we know so far.
It’s excellent news for the locals as the IPL will be back in India this year. Last year, the IPL had to be postponed and held outside the country because of the pandemic. Instead of its usual schedule, the Dream11 IPL 2020 started in September and was held in the UAE.
This year, the VIVO IPL 2021 is scheduled to start on April 9 in Chennai. The opening match will be between last season’s champions, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. This season will have a total of 56 league matches with 11 doubleheaders. This means that fans have a lot to look forward to and matches to wager on this year. Indian Premier League odds are already available on various betting websites.
About the Schedule and Venues
This year’s season will take place in a total of 6 venues, including Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. Both Ahmedabad and Delhi will host 8 matches each, and the other venues will host 10 events each.
There will be no home games for this season, and the matches are scheduled for a reason. BCCI secretary Jay Shah said, “The fixtures of the tournament have been mapped so that every team will travel only three times during the league stage, thus reducing commute and minimizing risk.”
For now, all matches are still expected to take place behind closed doors. Many are hopeful that crowds will be allowed at some point, but this will all depend on the pandemic situation in the country. BCCI head Sourav Ganguly may have hinted that the whole season might be without crowds at all.
When he was asked when the BCCI would consider having crowds back, he only said, “Don’t know yet, depends on the situation. Dubai also was the same.” This is what happened in Dubai back then. Everyone was hoping that before the end of the season, audiences will finally be allowed. However, it just didn’t happen.
“It’s slightly different from bilateral. If you open up for crowds (in IPL) with teams practicing outside the stadiums, you expect crowds to get closer to practicing teams during IPL, so that could be a risk,” Ganguly added.
IPL Title Sponsorship
The title sponsorship of this season was also quite a talk of the town. Last year, before the season started, the IPL announced that VIVO has decided to pause its five-year title sponsorship contract with BCCI. This left the IPL without a title sponsor for a while and eventually announced that Dream11 was able to sign the contract.
After last year’s season, many started to wonder if Dream11 will still be this year’s season or if VIVO will continue the partnership. This remained in the thoughts of many until this year’s auction. IPL chairman Bijesh Patel announced during this event that VIVO will once again be the sponsor this year.
VIVO was just happy to be able to continue the partnership with BCCI. It was only recently when VIVO aired their side as to why they had to step back last year. It had something to do with China’s border issues the previous year, and now, things are starting to settle down. VIVO’s head of brand strategies, Nipun Marya, also said that the decision for last year’s sponsorship was mutual between them and the BCCI. They are just looking forward to continuing the partnership, especially that the smartphone brand has a lot in store for their customers this year.
IPL 2021 Full Schedule:
April 9 – 07:30 PM: Mumbai Indian vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai
April 10 – 07:30 PM: Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals in Mumbai
April 11 – 07:30 PM: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai
April 12 – 07:30 PM: Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings in Mumbai
April 13 – 07:30 PM: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians in Chennai
April 14 – 07:30 PM: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai
April 15 – 07:30 PM: Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals in Mumbai
April 16 – 07:30 PM: Punjab Kings vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai
April 17 – 07:30 PM: Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai
April 18 – 03:30 PM: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai
April 18 – 07:30 PM: Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings in Mumbai
April 19 – 07:30 PM: Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai
April 20 – 07:30 PM: Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians in Chennai
April 21 – 03:30 PM: Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai
April 21 – 07:30 PM: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai
April 22 – 07:30 PM: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai
April 23 – 07:30 PM: Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians in Chennai
April 24 – 07:30 PM: Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai
April 25 – 03:30 PM: Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Mumbai
April 25 – 07:30 PM: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Capitals in Mumbai
April 26 – 07:30 PM: Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad
April 27 – 07:30 PM: Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad
April 28 – 07:30 PM Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Delhi
April 29 – 03:30 PM: Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals in Delhi
April 29 – 07:30 PM: Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad
April 30 – 07:30 PM: Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad
May 1 – 07:30 PM: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings in Delhi
May 2 – 03:30 PM: Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Delhi
May 2 – 07:30 PM: Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad
May 3 – 07:30 PM: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad
May 4 – 07:30 PM: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi
May 5 – 07:30 PM: Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings in Delhi
May 6 – 07:30 PM: Royal Challengers vs Bangalore Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad
May 7 – 07:30 PM: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings in Delhi
May 8 – 03:30 PM: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad
May 8 – 07:30 PM: Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi
May 9 – 03:30 PM: Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings in Bangalore
May 9 – 07:30 PM: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Kolkata
May 10 – 07:30 PM: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore
May 11 – 07:30 PM: Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata
May 12 – 07:30 PM: Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore
May 13 – 03:30 PM: Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings in Bangalore
May 13 – 07:30 PM: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata
May 14 – 07:30 PM: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Capitals in Kolkata
May 15 – 07:30 PM: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings in Bangalore
May 16 – 03:30 PM: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata
May 16 – 07:30 PM: Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians in Bangalore
May 17 – 07:30 PM: Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Kolkata
May 18 – 7:30 PM: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore
May 19 – 07:30 PM: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings in Bangalore
May 20 – 07:30 PM: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians in Kolkata
May 21 – 03:30 PM: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bangalore
May 21 – 07:30 PM: Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata
May 22 – 07:30 PM: Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore
May 23 – 03:30 PM: Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals in Kolkata
May 23 – 07:30 PM: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata
May 25 – 07:30 PM: Qualifier 1 in Ahmedabad
May 26 – 07:30 PM: Eliminator in Ahmedabad
May 28 – 07:30 PM Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad
May 30 – 07:30 PM: Final in Ahmedabad
