Operation Sindoor: After brief suspension, IPL set to resume from May 17
The final is scheduled to be held on June 3
By Sri Lakshmi Muttevi
New Delhi: After a brief suspension, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to resume from May 17.
After both countries agreed to a ceasefire, the matches are set to resume from May 17. The final is scheduled to be held on June 3. The final will most likely be played in Ahmedabad.
The tourney was suspended due to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. The decision to suspend IPL came in the wake of Indiaās missile strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Codenamed Operation Sindoor, these strikes were carried out two weeks after the devastating April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives.
The match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala was halted midway.
According to the BCCI, the remainder of the tournament, which was suspended on May 9 for a week, will be played at six venues: Bengaluru, Jaipur, Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad. The venues for the playoffs will be announced later, but the matches will be played on the following dates: Qualifier 1 on May 29, the Eliminator on May 30, Qualifier 2 on June 1, and the final on June 3. A total of 17 matches will be played after the resumption, with two double-headers, both of which will be played on Sundays.
The revised schedule features 13 league games and the four playoff matches. This means that the Punjab Kings (PBKS) vs Delhi Capitals (DC) game, which was called off midway through the first innings on May 8 in Dharamsala, will be played again, on May 24 in Jaipur, which will be the temporary home base for PBKS. Two days later, PBKS will play against Mumbai Indians (MI), a match they were originally meant to play in their second home base of Dharamsala on May 11. The match that will restart the tournament on May 17 will be played between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Bengaluru.
According to ESPN Cric Info, the change in venues also means that three teams - PBKS, CSK, and SRH - won't get to play on their original home grounds anymore. With CSK and SRH out of the playoffs race, PBKS will count themselves unlucky to be playing two of their home matches at a neutral venue. With 15 points from 11 matches, PBKS were third on the points table before the tournament was suspended.
