In a decision that could suit broadcasters and spectators alike, the Indian Premier League Governing Council is looking at moving the start times for the upcoming playoff matches ahead by an hour, according to a report in the Indian Express.

It has been a common sight this year for the matches to stretch close to midnight and by the time presentations are complete, it’s invariable past 12 am. One of the earlier matches between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai ended at 11:55 pm.

IPL Governing Council Chairman confirmed to the newspaper that talks are one to move the start times for the knockout matches to 7 pm and this was something that was deliberated for all matches even before the season began.

“What happens is that the night games get over by midnight. We wanted to start the games early from the beginning, but some of the franchises didn’t agree to it,” Shukla was quoted as saying in the report. “They especially had a problem with them on weekends which generally have a double-header scheduled. The playoff stage has a single game on the day and we can start by 7 pm so that the people who come to the ground can enjoy the match and also reach home on time.”

As we wrote on these pages earlier in the season, matches have regularly shot beyond the scheduled end-time of 11:20 pm, with only Virat Kohli being fined for over-rates once so far.

The report added that the broadcasters wanted the league matches to start at 7 pm as well but the problem would have been with the weekend double-headers. The consideration was for the first match to start at 5:30 pm in those cases but that would have resulted in an overlap between matches. The proposal was not accepted by the franchises, the report adds.

It was recently confirmed that Kolkata will host the Eliminator and Qualifier 2 on May 23 and 25 respectively while Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium will play host to the Qualifier 1 and the Final on May 22 and 27.