IPL 2019 to begin on 23 March, tournament to be held in India, informs Committee of Administrators

The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will commence on 23 March this year and will be held in India. There were speculations that the 2019 IPL might be shifted out of the country as it may clash with General Elections 2019, but all those talks have been put to rest now. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) officials met in Delhi to discuss the dates and venues on 8 January and came out with a conclusion that the tournament will stay in India. However, the cash-rich league will begin almost two weeks before the usual date. IPL generally begins in early April and continues till the end of May. [caption id=“attachment_4349335” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] The statement released by BCCI read, “Based on the preliminary discussions with the appropriate central and state agencies/authorities, it was decided that the 12th edition of the world’s most popular and competitive T20 tournament will be scheduled to be played in India. “It is proposed that the VIVO IPL 2019 will commence on March 23, 2019. The detailed schedule will be finalised in consultation with the appropriate authorities,” it added. The IPL had moved out of the country on two occasions in the past due to parliamentary elections, in 2009 to South Africa and then partly in 2014 to UAE. The complete schedule will be released later after consultation with the concerned stakeholders, the board said. “The detailed schedule will be finalised in consultation with the appropriate authorities. The COA will then have detailed discussion with all the Stakeholders before releasing the VIVO IPL 2019 Schedule,” the BCCI release said.