The full schedule of the Indian Premier League is likely to be announced later today [Monday] as the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) meeting in Mumbai.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI] had earlier announced the schedule for only the first 17 games from March 23 to April 5.
The 12th edition of the IPL is set to be underway from March 23 in Chennai between current champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The delay is because of the 2019 General Elections which is set to clash with the mega-rich tournament and the inability for many centres to provide adequate security. However, the Indian board decided to hold the tournament in the country unlike in 2009 and 2014, when the tournament was shifted to South Africa and UAE [first part] for the same reason.
Speaking to IANS, a BCCI official in the know of developments had earlier said that the full schedule was expected to be released on March 18.
The IPL COO and his team has been working overtime to ensure that despite this being the year of the general election, the league is played in India.
"It is expected that the remaining schedule for this season of the IPL would be finalised and announced on Monday when the CoA meets (at the Trident Hotel).
"The IPL COO and his team are working overtime on this and it is a credit to them that the BCCI can even hope of holding the entire season in India this year," he said.
Last year's winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Chennai in the opener. In the first part, all teams are playing a minimum of four matches with the newly-christened Delhi Capitals and RCB playing five matches. Every team will play a minimum of two home and two away matches with DC playing three home matches, while RCB will play three away matches.
The CoA will meet ICC chairman Shashank Manohar in Mumbai on Monday to also discuss the issue of the BCCI complying with the World Anti-Doping Agency-National Anti-Doping Agency (WADA-NADA).
While the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to remain compliant to the WADA directives, the BCCI has a reservation on dealing with NADA. ICC CEO David Richardson had spoken on the need to get the differences between the BCCI and NADA sorted.
"We are trying to help the BCCI sort out the issue with WADA and NADA. We think cricket should be in the 2028 Olympics, but it's not going to happen unless we are a unified sport.
"At this stage, we need to convince the BCCI that it is a good thing for cricket to be in the Olympics from all aspects," he had said.
However, the BCCI officials present at the ICC chief executive meeting had made it clear that WADA must name a different testing agency as they don't trust NADA thanks to the recent mistakes the agency has made.
(With inputs from IANS)
