MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians will kick off IPL 2020
Mumbai Indians will begin their IPL title defence against the team they took the trophy away from last season – Chennai Super Kings – on September 19 in Abu Dhabi, at 6pm local time (7.30pm IST). The IPL schedule was finally made public on Sunday, just under two weeks off from the start of the competition, and featured ten double-header days.
The schedule was released only for the round-robin stage of the tournament. In all Abu Dhabi will host 20 round-robin games, Dubai 24, and Sharjah 12.
Mumbai and Super Kings are the IPL’s most successful franchises – with four and three titles respectively – and form its most prominent rivalry; no team has beaten Super Kings as many times as Mumbai, who have a 17-11 record against them including a last-ball one-run win in last season’s final.
The delay in the release of the schedule was down to a number of reasons, with the IPL Governing Council having to consider a number of different parameters since receiving permission to host the tournament in the UAE. That aside, the 13 positive Covid-19 cases in the Super Kings camp and the strict quarantine rules in Abu Dhabi are believed to have contributed to the hold up.
More to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo