Cricket has historically been a favorite recreational sport for weekenders here in the USA. If you are one of those Americans who take an interest in the Englishman’s game, you might be eager to get updates on IPL, which is the ninth most followed sports event in the world. As per the latest news, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 format has now been officially announced. The 2022 IPL will provide its teams with 10 seedings. The participating teams will be grouped into two virtual sessions. This placement or team dynamics will stay till the league phase of the tournament lasts. Reports show that Mumbai and Pune will be hosting the mentioned league phase of the tournament.
What is the basis of the Seedings?
For those who are unaware, the seedings are based on the frequency of the team winning the Indian Premier League or at least making it to the finals. Group A or the first group will be the top of the overall seeds and are the five-time champions of IPL – Mumbai Indians. Group B or the second group will be the number two seedings and are the four-time champions of IPL – Chennai Super Kings.
The Format of IPL 2022
The teams included in Group A are Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, and Lucknow Super Giants while the teams in Group B include Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, and Gujarat Titans.
The new format was revealed on Friday which stated that the 10 teams will play in-total 14 matches, seven in the home country and seven abroad, during the league phase of the season which has now been extended to 70 games. Out of the 14 matches, 10 matches will be home-and-away games against the remaining four teams. These will be in addition to the two matches that will be played against the team from the corresponding row of the other group.
Taking Mumbai as an example, it will play against the remaining four teams in Group A. This means that Mumbai will have matches against the following teams: Knight Riders, Royals, Capitals and Super Giants, and Super Kings from Group B. There will be a total of two matches against each one of the three teams. They will play the leftover teams from the other group only one time each, for a total of 14 games, all of which be divided among being played at home or abroad.
However, the at-home or abroad strategy is not applicable for this season only since IPL has made it certain to limit the league phase to four venues played in two cities, Mumbai and Pune. While Mumbai will have most of the matches, 55 to be exact, the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in the suburbs of Pune will conduct 15 matches during the league phase.
All the teams will play four times each at the Wankhede Stadium and the DY Patil Sports Academy, and three times each at the Brabourne Stadium and the MCA Stadium. Even though the final decision regarding the schedule will be announced in early March, there remains uncertainty as to whether Mumbai will host any match at the Wankhede or not.
Changes in the Format
No major change has been made in the format of the traditional Indian Premier League. Only that in this year’s IPL 10 teams are presented for the first time. The teams are divided into two groups, with 70 league matches and four playoff matches. All teams will be ranked on the same points table. During the league stage, each team will play 14 matches.
Each team has played the other four in their group, both at home and abroad (eight matches in total), four teams in the other group played only one time (overall four matches), and the remaining team in the other group played twice. The arrangement as well as the decision of which team plays against one another was also decided at random.
For the year 2022, IPL has made it official that the tournament will be played from March 26 to May 29 ‘2022. The first match will be CSK Vs KKR at 7:30 PM in Mumbai. The next 07 matches will also be in Mumbai. The cricket tournament will start 10 days after India’s home test series against Sri Lanka is supposed to end. This means that the Indian Premier League will not stick to the suggestions made by the RM Lodha Committee which announced that a two-week break is necessary between any international series or tournament that the Indian team played and the IPL.