The Indian Premier League (IPL) is well and truly back, and there is a complete revamp in the format of the world's most popular cricket league. IPL's governing council held a meeting earlier on Friday as they announced the dates for the upcoming IPL 2022 season.
TATA IPL 2022 will kick off from March 26, and it will go on until May 29. There's a twist in the tale, however, as earlier the cash-rich league was held in a single table round-robin format with each team playing other opponents twice and the top four qualified for playoffs.
From the upcoming season onwards, all of the IPL's 10 teams, including the two new entrants Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants have been placed in two groups of five each. The groups have been made according to the number of times teams were crowned IPL Champions, followed by the number of times the teams reached the final of the tournament.
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A total of 70 league matches will be played across four international-standard venues in Mumbai and Pune - Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium to host 20 matches each, while Brabourne Stadium and MCA International Stadium, Pune will host 15 matches each. The venue for the playoff matches will be decided later.
While Mumbai Indians have been kept in group A alongside Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, Group B is headlined by Chennai Super Kings, who will be joined by Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans.
In the meanwhile, as soon as the change in format was announced, Twitter went into overdrive as netizens couldn't control their excitement ahead of what promises to be another stellar campaign.
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Here's how netizens reacted to IPL's new format:
