IPL 2022 to begin on March 26, Mumbai and Pune to host group stages

The BCCI has announced that the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League will kick off on Saturday the 26th of March in Mumbai, with the five-time champions Mumbai Indians taking on the reigning finalists Kolkata Knight Riders in the season opener.

The 2022 edition will involve 70 group matches, with each of the ten IPL teams playing 14 games (7 home and 7 away). With the IPL expanding to ten teams from this season onwards, the tournament will use a similar format to the one used previously in the 2011 edition – which featured the Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala – with each franchise playing five teams twice and four teams once.

To facilitate this, the ten teams have been divided into two virtual groups of five based on the number of IPL Championships won followed by the number of Final matches played by the respective teams.

The Mumbai Indians have been placed in Group A alongside the Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and the newly-formed Lucknow Super Giants. Group B consists of four-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, and Gujarat Titans.

Each team will play two games against the other four members of their group and one team from the other group. They will play the remaining four teams from the other group once (two at home and two away). 

The IPL Governing Council has also confirmed that the entirety of the IPL will be staged inside a bio-secure environment in Maharashtra, with 55 games played in Mumbai and 15 in Pune. Four venues have been identified for the league stage, with 20 games played at the Wankhede Stadium, 20 at the DY Patil Stadium, 15 at the Brabourne Stadium and 15 at the MCA International Stadium in Pune.

To ensure a level playing field, each team will play four matches at the Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium and three games each at the Brabourne Stadium and MCA International Stadium in Pune. The venue for the four playoff games is yet to be decided, with the final scheduled to take place on the 29th of May 2022.

As opposed to the previous two seasons held in India and the UAE, the 2022 IPL will not be behind closed doors, and somewhere between 25-50% capacity is expected to be opened to spectators, depending on approvals from the Maharashtra government.