Mumbai, Jan 7: Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will take on Mumbai Indians in the inaugural match of the fifth edition of Indian Premier League at Chennai's M A Chidambaram stadium on April 4, the BCCI announced today.
The tournament is scheduled to feature nine franchisee teams and a total of 76 matches will be played across the 12 venues in the run to the finals on May 27.
The league stage of the 54-day-long event will comprise of 72 matches with each team playing the other eight in a home-and-away format.
The play offs would be hosted by Bangalore and Chennai, the two finalists from the previous edition.
While Bangalore will host Qualifier 1 - the table toppers from the league stage versus the second team on that list (1 vs 2) - and the Eliminator - the contest between the third and fourth placed teams (3 vs 4) -- on May 22 and 23 respectively, Chennai will be the venue for Qualifier 2 to be played on May 25.
The city will also host the final on May 27.
The new stadium in Pune, subject to the final completion, will make its debut as an IPL venue, by staging all eight 'home' games of the Pune Warriors India.
Dharamsala, Cuttack and Vizag will host two games each.
Kochi Tuskers Kerala, which made its debut in 2011, will not figure in the fifth season as the franchise was terminated by the BCCI last September for breaching its terms of agreement.
