New Delhi: Ahmedabad and Chennai will host the IPL 2024 playoffs, with the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium set to organise the final on May 26, informed the BCCI while announcing the schedule for the remaining fixtures of the tournament on Monday.
While the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will host Qualifier 2 and the Final on May 24 and 26, respectively, the Qualifier 1 and the Eliminator will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 21 and 22 respectively.
With Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT) being IPL 2023 finalists, as per tradition, their home venues have been picked for hosting the playoffs. Chennai had previously hosted the IPL finals in 2011 and 2012, while Ahmedabad played hosts to the title clash in the 2022 and 2023 seasons respectively.
The BCCI had earlier released the IPL 2024 schedule for the first 21 matches as the dates for the upcoming general elections were not announced. The elections are now set to be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, while the counting of votes will happen on June 4.
The board has stayed true to its word of hosting the entire IPL 2024 in the country, quashing speculations on shifting the competition abroad due to the elections.
The second half of IPL 2024 will begin with defending champions CSK taking on two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an evening clash at Chennai on April 8. A highlight of the second-half schedule is CSK meeting Mumbai Indians in a highly awaited clash of the tournament at the Wankhede Stadium on April 14, coinciding with the Tamil new year Day.
CSK’s other high-octane clash will be against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 18 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which is also their last league match.
The picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala and the Barsapara Cricket Ground in Guwahati will also host two IPL matches of its home teams Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals, respectively.
Dharamshala will see PBKS play an afternoon game against CSK on May 5, while hosting RCB in an evening clash on May 9. Guwahati will host RR’s last two games against PBKS and KKR on May 15 and 19 respectively. The RR-KKR game on May 19 will also be the final league game of the season. After a day’s break, the playoffs will begin on March 21.
The Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi will host its first IPL game of this season when Delhi Capitals host 2016 winners Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 20. Delhi Capitals will host all of their remaining five home games in the Capital after playing their first two home games in Visakhapatnam to give time to their main home base for preparing pitches and ground after hosting WPL 2024 second half in March.
(IANS)
