IPL 2021 to start from April 9

The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League will be start from April 9 2021 and will conclude on May 30. The IPL Governing Council made the announcement on Sunday and released an official statement in this regard.

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The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League will start from April 9, with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Virat Kohli's Roya Challengers Bangalore in the season opener. A total of 56 league matches will be played across six cities in the country - Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Delhi - and the tournament will conclude on May 30.

The Play Offs and summit clash will be played at the newly-inaugurated Narendra Modi Stadium. Meanwhile, for the first time all the matches will be played at a neutral venue, with all the eight franchise playing at four out of the six venues. 

BCCI announces schedule for VIVO IPL 2021 

The season will kickstart on 9th April in Chennai and the final will take place on May 30th at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

More details here - https://t.co/yKxJujGGcD #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/qfaKS6prAJ — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 7, 2021

An official statement was released by BCCI in this regard, which read: "The season will kickstart on 9th April, 2021 in Chennai with a high octane clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The World’s Largest Cricket Stadium - Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the Playoffs as well as the final on 30th May, 2021 which promises to be a visual spectacle. The newly-built stadium that hosted India’s second Pink Ball fixture at home with great grandeur will host its first ever IPL."  

IPL 2021 | Complete fixtures, match timings, venues and other details

"Each team is set to play at four venues during the league stage. Out of the 56 league matches, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata & Bengaluru will host 10 matches each while Ahmedabad and Delhi will host 8 matches each. One of the highlights of this edition of the VIVO IPL will be the fact that all matches will be played at neutral venues, no team will play at their home venue. All teams will play at 4 out of 6 venues during the league stage," the statement read. 

Here's how the @SunRisers, @RCBTweets, @rajasthanroyals & @PunjabKingsIPL squads look after the @Vivo_India #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/xyQAgLVV5R — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 19, 2021

Check out how @mipaltan, @KKRiders, @DelhiCapitals & @ChennaiIPL stack up after the @Vivo_India #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/Icx5LhHjv3 — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 19, 2021

This season will see a total of eleven double headers, in which "six teams will play three afternoon matches and two teams will play two afternoon matches". The afternoon games will start from 3:30 PM IST while the evening games are scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM IST.

Meanwhile, the release also stated that the fixtures in this edition have been mapped in a way that involves less travelling and it will be conducted behind closed doors. However, it added that a decision regarding allowing spectators at the latter stage of the tournament could be conidered depending on the situation.