IPL 2019: Tournament date announced

The BCCI has announced that all matches of the 2019 season of Indian Premier League will be played in India only and has also declared that the T20 tournament will start from March 23. The board is yet to announce the complete schedule of the tournament.

IPL to be held in India despite elections

The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to take place in 2019 and hence it seemed that BCCI would either move a few games or would shift the entire tournament to another country for security reasons.

During the 2009 elections, the tournament was shifted to South Africa while during the 2014 elections the first phase of the tournament was shifted to UAE.

However this year the BCCI has decided to play the entire tournament in India only despite the fact that the Lok Sabha elections might take place during the same period.

In a press release, The BCCI stated that based on the preliminary discussions with the appropriate central and state agencies/authorities, it was decided that the 12th edition of the world’s most popular and competitive T20 tournament will be scheduled to be played in India.

The tournament to begin from March 23

At the same time, the BCCI has announced that the tournament will start from March 23 and the complete schedule will be released in some days. The tournament is expected to go on for more than a month and may finish by the first or second week of May.

The IPL offers the defending champions the chance to host the first match of the season and hence this year, the first match will probably be hosted by Chennai Super Kings.

IPL to worry about the 2019 world cup as well

Apart from the Lok Sabha elections, the IPL also has to take into consideration the 50-over world cup which is scheduled to start from May 30.

Also read: Blow to NZ: All-rounder to miss SL T20I

Due to the world cup, plenty of overseas players might miss the final phase of the tournament as cricket boards will call back their players to have preparations for the world cup.