Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
BCCI in the recent media release has announced that the final two league matches of the IPL 2021 will be played simultaneously. The matches, which were originally scheduled to be played at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM, respectively, will be played at the same time at 7:30 PM IST.
In the first game, Sunrisers Hyderabad will face defending champions Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi, while the second match would see Royal Challengers Bangalore play Delhi Capitals. However, BCCI hasn’t revealed the exact reason behind the decision. But SportsTiger has learned that there might be two possible reasons behind this move.
IPL goes Premier League way
In the Premier League, the final few games are played at the same time to avoid any unfair advantage to a team who can see the result of the previous match and influence the result of their match in an unfair way.
Since the race for this season’s playoffs is quite tensed, odds are that the final 4 teams will be decided on the final day of the league matches. And to avoid any unfair advantages and to add more drama, BCCI has decided to arrange both matches at the same time.
A trial run by Star
The other reason that has surfaced is that IPL broadcaster Star wanted to do a trial run to prepare for the 2022 season as several double-headers will be played due to the addition of two new teams.