The BCCI has announced the schedule for the group stages of IPL 2019. With the dates of general elections slated to clash with IPL in the coming months, it was feared that a few teams might not get a chance to play games in their home cities. However, the schedule announced on Tuesday confirmed that all the eight teams will get to play all their home games in their home cities. It has also been reported that Vizag has been kept as a standby venue should any of the matches be shifted at the last moment.
The ACA VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vizag last played host to an IPL match in 2016, when the Chennai Super Kings took on the Kings XI Punjab in a last-over thriller. While there were hopes that the city might get to host IPL matches last year after Chennai was scrapped off its status to host CSK’s home games, the fans were left disappointed after the games were shifted to Pune.
The twelfth edition of the IPL will kick off on 23 March in Chennai. Home team Chennai Super Kings will be locking horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore, in what is expected to be a high-octane clash. As per ESPNcricinfo, the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will play host to the final of the tournament too, on 12 May.
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