IPL 2022: Format, Venues and everything you need to know
In the context of Indian cricket, the IPL stands for the Indian Premier League, which is the marquee franchise T20 tournament in world cricket. A new season of the Indian Premier League is upon us and this time the IPL cricket games are getting bigger and better.
The reason for this is that two new teams have been added to the tournament, the Lucknow Super Giants and the Gujarat Titans. Goenka Group, who were also the owners of the Rising Pune Super Giant in 2016 and 2017, own the Lucknow franchise while CVC acquired the Gujarat Titans.
The IPL 2021 auction date of 18th February 2021 was a smaller auction while the one that took place this year was a mega cricket IPL auction with almost all the players going under the hammer. Each of the 8 original teams was given the opportunity to retain a maximum of 4 players before the auction, while the two new sides had to choose from the rest of the pack.
The cricket IPL auction was also a two-day affair this time, with 370 Indian players and 220 overseas stars having been listed. The auction purse has also increased to ₹90 crores this season.
The IPL will start on 26th March, with the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders clashing in the opening IPL cricket game. In all, 74 IPL cricket games will be played in 2022. 70 are in the group stage, then four IPL cricket games in the playoffs — Qualifier 1 between the two top teams after the group stage, Eliminator between the third and fourth-placed teams, Qualifier 2 between the losers of Qualifier 1 and the winners of Eliminator, then the finale.
IPL 2022: Format
What has got everyone confused is the format that has been employed in the IPL this year. Even though two new teams have been added this season, the number of IPL cricket games played by each team remains the same at 14. The 10 teams have been divided into two groups based on their titles, finals and playoff appearances.
Group A – Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants
Group B – Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings
Each team will play the other 4 teams within their group twice over the course of the season. The team that is directly opposite in the other group will be played twice and the other 4 teams will be played only once. This amounts to a total of 14 IPL cricket games for each side and 74 games over the course of the season.
IPL 2022: Venues and Schedule
All the 74 IPL cricket games will be played in just 4 venues, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic in India. All four venues are in Maharashtra, including the Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium, DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai and the MCA Stadium in Pune.
The 70 IPL cricket games in the league phase will be played in these 4 venues, with the play-offs and final game venues yet to be announced. Wankhede and DY Patil Stadium will host 20 league games while the Brabourne and MCA Stadium will host 15 games.
Of all the venues in the IPL this year, only the Brabourne Stadium seems to favour the side batting first, with the rest of the venues in favour of the chasing sides.
The IPL 2022 cricket timetable has been released and the first match will be played between the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders, while the last IPL cricket match will be played between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings on May 22.
IPL 2022: Rule changes
Significant changes have been made this season, with the teams now being awarded 2 DRS reviews instead of 1. Earlier in the year, the MCC made some changes to the Code of Laws, one of which is that the new batsman has to take strike even though the batters have crossed during a caught dismissal. The only exception to this is if the wicket is taken at the end of an over. This rule will also be implemented this IPL season.
Strict decisions are also awaiting the players who break the bio-secure bubble environment considering the last IPL being halted due to the pandemic. If a player or team member tests positive for Covid-19, he should isolate for 7 days and should also return two negative RT-PCR tests.
How to watch IPL 2022?
Sales of tickets for IPL 2022 started on March 23. IPL live cricket can be seen on the Star Sports Network, the official broadcaster of IPL cricket games. All the IPL 2022 matches can be seen live on the Star Sports network – Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada.