IPL 5 schedule finalised

Zeenews Sports Bureau

New Delhi: Nine teams will battle it out in the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League, which will start on April 4, 2011 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will take on the Mumbai Indians, the Champions League T20 winners, in the first match of the tournament. A total of seventy-six matches will be played from 4 April 2012 to 27 May 2012, at an expected twelve venues. The new Stadium in Pune, subject to final completion, will make its debut as an IPL venue, by staging all eight ‘home’ games of the Pune Warriors India. Dharamsala, Cuttack and Vizag will host two games each. The league stage, which comprises seventy two matches, with each team playing the other eight in a home-and-away format, will go on till Sunday, 20 May 2012. The venue of the two finalist teams from 2011 edition will host the Play offs. Bangalore will host Qualifier 1 (1 Vs 2) and the Eliminator (3 Vs 4) on 22 May and 23 May respectively. Qualifier 2 and the Final will be played in Chennai, on 25 May and 27 May respectively.