The 13th version of the Twenty20 cricket show, the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020), will run from September 19, 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 53-day tournament would see around 70 matches, including practice matches during the period; the afternoon games would start at 3.30 pm IST and the evening games at 7.30 pm IST. The games will be played in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Eight teams or franchises will participate in the tournament: Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The IPL Governing Council under the Indian Cricket Control Board (BCCI) recently announced Dream11, an Indian company based in Mumbai, as the title sponsor of IPL 2020 thanks to the departure of former main sponsor Vivo, a Chinese company. . According to available news reports, it has almost been decided to have no actual spectators for the mega event, because officials from both countries have deemed it too risky to have crowds inside stadiums in light of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, as is known from reports, instead there would be huge LED screens in the stadiums that can connect fans from various places where they can watch the action live and participate in the proceedings. Aside from those screens, the games would reach the small television screens around the world under BCCI’s live broadcasting arrangements with Star Sports.

The IPL 2020 teams had started arriving at different locations in the UAE since August 20, 2020 thanks to the strict COVID-19 regulations and the new normal cricket rules. Team members arriving in Dubai were isolated in their hotel rooms for 7 days during which time they had to undergo three COVID tests, and only after having tested negative on the final test would they be allowed to go to practice sessions. On the other hand, teams arriving in Abu Dhabi were being quarantined in hotels for 14 days according to the COVID protocol applicable there, which allegedly upset some team members. This brings us to the topic of the different protocols followed in different places.

The protocols followed in Abu Dhabi are stricter due to the Coronavirus situation, and there are also travel restrictions between Abu Dhabi and Dubai or Sharjah. For example, players traveling from Dubai or Sharjah to Abu Dhabi will have to undergo rapid COVID tests at the internal border and only after they are proven negative will they be allowed to enter the city. Cricket administrators have found that this particular restriction is not at all compatible with the demanding situation on game days. And, due to this annoying problem, the BCCI has so far not been able to fix and announce the match schedule. The IPL Governing Board or Council has reportedly been considering dividing the tournament into two stages: Most of the first leg matches will be played in Dubai and Sharjah, where restrictions were relaxed a bit, and the matches remaining in Abu Dhabi in the second leg.

Although the match schedule has yet to be announced on the official IPL website, an inadvertent tweet from Rohit Sharma, captain of the defending Champions Mumbai Indians, where he paid a rich tribute to MS Dhoni, captain of Chennai Super Kings and who was retired from international cricket. Recently, before facing him in the first match, he revealed that the first match of the tournament could be played between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, but there is no clue to the venue yet.

Indian cricket fans and revelers eagerly await the new normal IPL 2020 to unfold in their homes in all grandeur and brilliance from September 19, 2020 to November 10, when the final final will be played. Given that the tournament had been pulled out of India, for the second time in IPL history, this would mean that Indian fans would not travel to the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin had left his team and joined Delhi Capitals, and Chris Gayle, after taking two COVID-19 tests and testing negative, had arrived in Dubai to join. to his team Kings XI Punjab.