IPL 2020: Mumbai Indians to lock horns with CSK in tournament opener on 19 September

New Delhi: Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will be locking horns in the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on September 19, the organisers confirmed on Sunday.

Dubai will play host to 24 games, 20 matches will be hosted by Abu Dhabi while Sharjah will hold 12 games. The IPL 2020 will be played from September 19-November 10 in the UAE across three venues –Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.

The opening match between the finalists of the 2019 edition will be played in Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The fans were eagerly waiting for the schedule to find out the dates on which their favourite teams will be seen in action.

For the first time in the history of the tournament, the finals will be played on a weekday ie Tuesday. Both the afternoon and evening matches will be played half an hour earlier than usual this time around.

There will be a total of 10 doubleheaders in this edition of the tournament.

Dubai will host its first game on Sunday when Delhi Capitals take on Kings XI Punjab followed by the third match on Monday between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

There will be 10 double-headers with the first match starting at 3:30PM IST. All evening matches will start at 7:30PM IST. In all, 24 matches will be held in Dubai, 20 in Abu Dhabi, and 12 in Sharjah.

Here’s the full schedule:

The evening matches will be played at 7:30 PM IST while the afternoon matches are due to start at 3:30 PM IST. All the teams have already reached UAE to take part in the tournament and are currently undergoing training.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was the last team to begin training as they finally stepped on the field on Friday after their third round of COVID-19 tests.

Last week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had confirmed that 13 personnel including two players had tested positive for COVID-19.

However, the board had not specified as to which team had how many confirmed cases. The identity of the players and staff was also not revealed.

“13 personnel have tested positive of which two are players. All the affected personnel as well as their close contacts are asymptomatic and have been isolated from other team members. They are being monitored by the IPL Medical Team,” the BCCI had said in an official release.