IPL set to begin on March 22; schedule to be announced in phases: Arun Dhumal

Since the inception of the Indian Premier League in 2008, India have seen three General Elections, two of which impacted scheduling. While the IPL was entirely shifted to South Africa in 2009, the UAE hosted a part of the 2014 IPL. However, the BCCI managed to keep the entire 2019 IPL to India, keeping dynamic scheduling in mind.

However, the General Election of 2024 has created that massive concern once again - with the BCCI delaying the announcement of the IPL schedule with only one month to go for it. To ease some doubts, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal has confirmed that the tournament will kick start on March 22 but the BCCI will release the schedule in two tranches. 

"We are looking at a March 22 start for the tournament. We are working closely with the government agencies and we will first release the initial schedule. The entire tournament will be held in India," Dhumal told PTI.

"The Lok Sabha polls are anticipated to have their dates announced early next month," Dhumal stated.

With the ICC T20 World Cup starting on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies, the IPL needs to be over by the third week of May, further creating scheduling issues for the BCCI. It is not yet confirmed if they will move overseas to host the tournament like they did in 2009 and 2014 for Elections and in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.