NEW DELHI: Even as the country rejoices over the World Cup victory, top players from all over the cricketing globe are here to play in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting Friday. There will be 10 teams, including two new entrants, and 74 matches played over 51 days April 8-May 28.
Two news franchises, Sahara Pune Warrirors and Kochi Tuskers, will join the existing eight — reigning champions Chennai Super Kings, runners-up Mumbai Indians, champions in inaugural year Rajasthan Royals, winners the next year when it was played in South Africa Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders.
The tournament will kick off in Chennai with a game between hosts Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders with a fair sprinkling of Bollywood pitching in at the inaugural ceremony.
The schedule was revised after the election dates were announced for assembly polls in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry.
The eight original franchises have been allowed to retain four players, three of whom have to be Indians. The retained players have to be from the rooster of registered players for the 2010 edition and their fee will be mutually decided by the stakeholders.
A franchise retaining four players will have to pay $4.5 million a year and that leaves it with only $4.5 million to spend on other players. The players retained will be valued at $1.8 million for the first player, $1.3 million for the second, $900,000 for the third and $500,000 for the fourth.
New entrants Pune and Kochi have also been allowed to hire four players who were not affiliated with any of the other franchises in the first three editions.
If a franchise decides against retaining any player, it will have the full purse of $9 million to spend. Also, the franchises can only have a squad of 30 players.
The rest of the squad was finalised through open bidding at an auction in January and included young Ranji Trophy players.
After prolonged haggling over the format, it was decided that there will be two groups of five teams each and they will play 70 league matches plus four play-off games.
A round-robin among the 10 teams would have resulted in 94 matches. Realising that playing that many games would not only reduce spectator interest, but also lead to player burnout, it was decided to peg the number of matches at 74, including three play-off games and the final.
The number of league games has been equally divided among the 10 teams. Each team will now play seven matches at home and seven away. Each team will play one league match each against four teams of other group and two more on home or away basis against the fifth team selected randomly.
The top two teams in the points table will play each other in first playoff (A) and the winners of this game will go straight into the final.
The second playoff game (B) will be between teams finishing third and fourth in the standings.
The Game B winners will play the losers of Game A in the third play-off (C) for a place in the final against the winners of Game A.
The playoff system was replicated from the Cricket New Zealand format.
IPL-IV: 74 matches played over 51 days
Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders will Friday play the opening match in the Indian Premier League (IPL)-IV in Chennai after the inaugural ceremony.
IPL-IV will feature 74 matches, including three play-off games and the final, with 10 teams playing at 13 venues over 51 days. Each team will play at least 14 matches, seven each at home and away.
The 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five each, but there will be one combined points table. The teams will play the other teams in their group on a home-away basis.
Each IPL team will play one league match each against four teams of other group and two more on home or away basis against the fifth team selected randomly.
The top two teams in the points table will meet in the first playoff (A). The winners of Game A will straightaway enter the final.
The second playoff will be between the teams finishing third and fourth in the standings. The losers will be out of the championship and the winners will play the losers of Game A for a place in the final.
The schedule was revised in view of the assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry.
MATCH SCHEDULES:
April 8: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.
April 9: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kochi.
April 10: 4pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab in Navi Mumbai.
April 11: 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers in Kolkata.
April 12: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians in Bangalore.
April 13: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings in Mohali. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Navi Mumbai.
April 14: 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad.
April 15: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Jaipur. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Mumbai.
April 16: 4pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad.
April 17: 4pm – Pune Warriors vs Delhi Daredevils in Navi Mumbai. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata.
April 18: 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Chennai Super Kings in Kochi.
April 19: 4pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers in Delhi. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore.
April 20: 4pm – Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors in Mumbai. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Kolkata.
April 21: 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals in Mohali.
April 22: 4pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.
April 23: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab in Delhi.
April 24: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Jaipur.
April 25: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Pune Warriors in Chennai.
April 26: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi.
April 27: 4pm – Pune Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings in Navi Mumbai. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Deccan Chargers in Kochi.
April 28: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi.
April 29: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors in Bangalore.
April 30: 4pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Delhi Daredevils in Kochi. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab in Kolkata.
May 1: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors in Jaipur. 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers in Chennai.
May 2: 4pm – Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai. 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Delhi.
May 3: 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad.
May 4: 4pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Chennai. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai.
May 5: 4pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kochi. 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils in Hyderabad.
May 6: 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore.
May 7: 4pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai.
May 8: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Bangalore. 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Pune Warriors in Mohali.
May 9: 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur.
May 10: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Pune Warriors in Hyderabad. 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians in Mohali.
May 11: 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur.
May 12: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils in Chennai.
May 13: 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kings XI Punjab in Indore.
May 14: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.
May 15: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Rajasthan Royals in Indore.
May 16: 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Deccan Chargers in Navi Mumbai.
May 17: 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dharamsala.
May 18: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Chennai.
May 19: 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Navi Mumbai.
May 20: 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai.
May 21: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers in Dharamsala. 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Pune Warriors in Delhi.
May 22: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians in Kolkata.
May 24: 8pm – Qualifier 1: First Placed Team vs Second Placed Team in Mumbai.
May 25: 8pm – Eliminator: Third Placed Team vs Fourth Placed Team in Mumbai.
May 27: 8pm – Qualifier 2: Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifier 1 in Chennai.
May 28: 8pm – Final: Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2 in Chennai.
Only 12 players were retained by five IPL franchise
Twelve players were retained by the five franchises for the fourth edition of the Inian Premier League (IPL) starting Friday.
Champions Chennai Super Kings retained World Cup winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, local boy Murali Vijay and South African all-rounder Albie Morkel.
Mumbai Indians, who finished runners-up, retained batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, feisty off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard and Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga.
Rajasthan Royals have retained the services of Australian duo Shane Warne and Shane Watson while Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli have been retained by Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers.
According to IPL rules, franchises can retain the maximum of four players for a total salary cap of $4.5 million. $1.8 million is for the first player, $1.3 million for the second, $900,000 for the third and $500,000 for the fourth.(IANS)
