Preparations of the forthcoming Indian Premier League are going very rapidly. The auction day is arriving and governing body has announced the name of the players, who will go under the hammer during this two-day process. In addition to this, Mumbai has been decided to host the final of the 11th season other than the opening encounter.
This season will commence from April 7 while the final will be played on May 27. The opening ceremony of the tournament will be held on April 6 in Mumbai.
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Star Sports has already won the broadcast rights for next five seasons of this cash-rich league. After getting this big deal, they insisted the Governing Council of IPL for change in timing of matches. In a big decision, they have decided to pre-pone the night match from 8 PM to 7 PM while the evening match will commence from 5:30 PM instead of 4 PM.
“The broadcaster has requested for change in timings. By and large, the GC has accepted it. It gets too late in the night if the game starts at 8 PM,” said IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla.
“As far as the double headers on weekends are concerned, the 4 pm game will now be played at 5.30 pm. There will be an overlap but the broadcaster says it has enough channels to show the games simultaneously.”
The meeting of GC held today and they gave Kings XI Punjab green single to host their three home matches in Indore, while rest of the four home games will be played in Mohali.
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Meanwhile, there is no clarity over Rajasthan Royals’ home games. The decision will come after hearing of the High Court on January 24.
“The matter is in court. I think on 24th (Wednesday), the court may dispose of the matter. We are waiting for that. Preference will be given to Jaipur if the stadium is ready and court clears RCA’s status. If that doesn’t happen, the alternate venue will be Pune,” Shukla added.
