Hyderabad will host the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) final on May 12, the BCCI announced on Monday (April 22). Traditionally, the IPL final has been played at the home of the defending champions – in this case at Chepauk – but the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) failed to get the required permission to get access to the three closed stands, due to which the BCCI had to change the venue from Chennai to Hyderabad.

Chepauk will get the opportunity to host qualifier 1 and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will have a chance to seal their place in the final in that fixture, provided they finish in the top 2. Qualifier 2 and the eliminator (winner of 3rd vs 4th against loser of qualifier 1) will be played at Vishakapatnam on May 8 and 10 respectively.

“We had to shift the matches from Chennai to Hyderabad after TNCA intimated us that they have not procured the requisite permission to open the three stands I, J and K. Since the gate sales of the knock-out matches is BCCI’s prerogative, we had to take a call. We would be having two knock-out matches in Vizag,” CoA chief Vindo Rai said.

The three stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium account to about 12,000 seats, which has remained vacant since 2012.

“CSK, by virtue of being defending champions, were allotted the Qualifier 1 and final. Now if they finish in top two, you cannot take away all the games. They deserve to get at least one of the knock-out games,” Rai added.