Visakhapatnam will host the ‘home’ matches for Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants following a decision by the Indian Premier League Governing Council here on Friday.
A Qualifier and Eliminator have been allotted to New Delhi while Bengaluru will host a Qualifier and the final. According to the original schedule, Delhi’s IPL matches would have ended with the Delhi Daredevils-Pune Supergiants match on May 5.
“The IPL GC extended gratitude to the Government of Rajasthan for the efforts to get the Sawai Mansingh stadium ready for hosting the matches. However, due to paucity of time and uncertainty surrounding the matches, it has been decided that Visakhapatnam will be the neutral venue for both Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants,” a press release said.
Mumbai Indians had opted for Jaipur but a decision had to be put on hold due to a PIL opposing the staging of matches in the city owing to water shortage. Supergiants had already chosen Visakhapatnam for its ‘home’ games.
The timings of two matches on May 15 have been rescheduled. The Kings XI Punjab-Sunrisers Hyderabad contest at Mohali will now be played at 4 p.m. while the Mumbai Indians-Delhi Daredevils encounter will be played at Visakhapatnam at 8 p.m.
Mohali will now host Kings XI’s matches on May 7 (Daredevils), May 9 (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and May 15 (Sunrisers) instead of Dharamshala.
Kanpur will become an IPL venue for the first time, with Gujarat Lions playing host to Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians on May 19 and 21 respectively at Green Park.
The revised venues for playoffs:
May 24: Qualifier 1, Bengaluru; May 25: Eliminator, New Delhi; May 27: Qualifier 2, New Delhi; May 29: Final, Bengaluru.
