Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The excitement around the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 is palpable. It is in the air and as the summer begins to settle in this part of the world, the country is getting ready to welcome its annual festival of T20 cricket. With the IPL Mega Auction done and dusted and each franchise ready with its set of players who will take the field in the fifteenth edition of the competition, fans just cannot wait for the competition to commence.
Notably, it has already been conveyed that the cash-rich league will begin sometime in the last week of March. However, a final call on the venue is yet to be taken. And now sources close to SportsTiger have confirmed that the BCCI will confirm the IPL 2022 venues only in the last week of February or the first week of March.
We are looking at hosting the matches in Maharashtra: Ganguly
Earlier, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had himself confirmed that the Board is looking at conducting the league stage of the competition in Maharashtra which has several stadiums in close proximity which reduces travel and hence the risk of spreading COVID-19.
"It will be held in India this year, until and unless COVID-19 hits the roof. As far as venues are concerned, we are looking at hosting the matches in Maharashtra – Mumbai, and Pune. We will take a call on the venues for the knockout stages later," Ganguly had told Sportstar in a recent interview.
However, the Board may want to consider other possibilities and also keep an eye on the Coronavirus daily infections graph before making a final call.
Before the IPL, members of the Indian cricket team are busy with the West Indies ODI series following which they will also welcome Sri Lanka on their shores. India and Sri Lanka will play the T20 series first followed by Test matches, the first match of which will be Virat Kohli's much-anticipated 100th Test match.
In addition, the Bengaluru Test match of this series will also be a day-night affair as has been confirmed by the Board President. An official announcement regarding the venues for this series is still awaited and is expected anytime soon.