The inaugural Indian Premier League All-Stars match that was supposed to be held ahead of the thirteenth edition of the T20 competition has reportedly been pushed to the end of the event.
This was after franchises expressed concerns over the release of players for the game ahead of the new season, according to multiple media reports.
IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel revealed that the exact date of the game will be announced soon.
“We decided to host the match after the tournament because we had to see the performances of the players and only after that we could select the teams,” Patel is quoted as saying by Sportstar. “We are working on it and will finalise a date soon.”
The more pressing reason for the postponement of the game that was to be held on March 25 or 26 at the new Motera stadium in Ahmedabad was the francise’s concerns about possible injuries to its players during the game, reported The Mumbai Mirror.
The franchises also complained that the game could cost them the short window before the season in which they could use their top foreign stars for promotional activities.
The league stage of IPL-13 will take place from March 29 to May 17 with the final slated for May 24.
Here is the complete fixture list for 13th edition starting on March 29
Four-time (and defending) champions Mumbai Indians will host arch-rivals and three-time champions Chennai Super Kings in the curtain-raiser.
There will be only six double-headers in this edition; all of them on Sundays. “There will be no change in the timing of IPL night games. It will start from 8 pm like the earlier years. There was discussion about 7.30 pm but it’s not happening [this year],” Ganguly had told reporters earlier.