The second match of the tournament will be held at Dubai between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab on Sunday, September 20. SunRisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore will face off in Dubai again on September 21. The first match at Sharjah will be played between Rajasthan Royals and CSK on September 22.
IPL 2020 will see a total of 10 double-headers. The afternoon games will be played at 3:30 pm (IST) while the evening matches will begin at 7:30 pm (IST). Dubai will play host to 24 games, Abu Dhabi will witness 20 matches being played while 12 matches will be held in Sharjah. The venues for the playoffs and the final haven’t been announced
The tournament was scheduled to kick-off on March 29 in India, but had to be postponed due to the massive spread of Coronavirus. With the ICC postponing the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup, BCCI got a window to push in the IPL. This is the second time the IPL will be held in the UAE. The Middle-East partially hosted the event in 2014 as the General Elections were underway in India.
IPL 2020 has been mired in controversy even before the tournament has kicked off. 13 members of the CSK contingent tested Coronavirus positive, and only recently were declared Covid negative. Further, CSK seniors Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh have pulled out of the event citing personal reasons