Brijesh Patel: IPL To Start From September 19 In UAE, Final On November 9

The eagerly awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to start from September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Chairman Brijesh Patel has confirmed that the 13th edition of the league will be played around the September 19 to November 8 window. The governing council of IPL will meet next week to sketch out the strategies.

Patel speaking to a news agency said that, "The GC will meet shortly, but we have finalized the timetable. It will run from September 19th to November 8th. We expect approval from the government to come through. It's the full 51-day IPL."

He further added that they are preparing the Standard Operating Procedure in the next few days. He asserted that to allow the crowd or not to witness the IPL depends on the government of the UAE. The BCCI will formally write to the Emirates Cricket Board and have left it for their government to decide on that.

Three grounds are available in the UAE-Dubai International Stadium, Sheik Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and Sharjah Land. The BCCI is likely to reserve the ICC Academy grounds for team training. The ICC Academy has two full-size cricket grounds with 38 grass fields, 6 indoor fields, a 5,700 square foot outdoor training center, and physiotherapy centre.

Another speculation is that IPL will start on September 26. The BCCI is in a plan to advance it by a week in order to ensure that the India team's tour of Australia is not put at risk. A BCCI official said that, "The Indian team will have a compulsory quarantine of 14 days in compliance with the laws of the Australian Government. "

IPL event was originally scheduled to start at the end of the March but due to coronavirus pandemic, it has been postponed. However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said that the event will be held sometime this year.