Picture Credit: IPL/BCCI
After IPL 2021 was successfully completed in UAE, all the focus has now shifted to the next edition where a new era of the tournament is set to commence. With two new teams - Lucknow and Ahmedabad - included in the roster, the 15th season of IPL is going to be a mega-blockbuster with 10 franchises fighting it out for the prestigious trophy.
All the present teams have already been given a deadline of November 30 to submit the list of retained players, following which the two new franchises will have an opportunity to select their core group of players from the available ones. The action will them move to mega auctions which is slated to take place in the early part of next year.
74 matches expected to take place in IPL 2022
Considering it will be a slightly longer tournament with the addition of new teams, there were speculations that IPL 2022 might kick off in March. However, as per the latest reports, it has been revealed that the tournament is actually slated to begin on April 2. According to Cricbuzz, there will be 74 matches in the season which will be played over the course of more than 60 days, with the finale likely to take place on June 4 or 5.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah had already earlier confirmed that the next season will be played in India and the cricket fest might actually begin at Chepauk Stadium, which is the home ground of IPL 2021 champions Chennai Super Kings. If the earlier trend is taken into account, they are likely to lock horns with Mumbai Indians or Kolkata Knight Riders (as they were runners-up in previous season).
What could be the format of IPL 2022?
The format of IPL 2022 could see all the 10 franchises play 7 home and 7 away games throughout the course of season. This would mean that the edition will have 70 league games which will be followed by 4 play-off games, making it a 74-game long edition.
All the teams are likely to be divided in two groups of 5 teams each. The teams will play 4 home and 4 away games against the franchises they are drawn with in same group. A side will play 1 home and 1 away game against one of the 5 teams from the other group. Other than that, they will play one game each (2 home and 2 away) against the remaining 4 teams of the other pool.