New Delhi. The 16th edition of the country’s most popular T20 cricket league IPL will start from Friday. The first match of the league will be played between defending champions Gujarat Titans and four-time champions Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. For about two months, cricket lovers will get to see the thrill of instant cricket.

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Return to Home-Away Format

For the first time since 2019, the tournament will be played in ‘Home and Away’ format. Due to Kovid-19, matches were played only at selected places in three seasons. But this time all the teams will have matches at other places apart from their home ground. This time apart from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, Chennai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Mohali, Guwahati and Dharamshala will also host some matches.

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The Opening Ceremony of IPL Will be held

Bollywood actresses Tamannaah Bhatia, Rashmika Mandhana and singer Arijit Singh will perform at the IPL opening ceremony before the opening match. This will be the first time since 2018, when the opening ceremony of IPL will be held. It was canceled in 2019 due to the terrorist attack in Pulwama, while it could not be held in the last three years due to Kovid-19 restrictions.

These big Names Will not be Included

This time players like Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Jhye Richardson, Kyle Jamison, Jonny Bairstow, Will Jacques and famous Krishna will not play in IPL due to injury.

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This Time it Will be Special

• Impact player will be able to bat or bowl in place of any player included in the team
• Even after the toss, the captain will be able to make changes in the playing XI.
• Captain will be able to take DRS for wide and no ball.
• There will be five penalty runs for changing the position of the fielder before the batsman has played the ball.
• In slow overs, teams can have only four fielders outside the 30 yards.

Number Game

• The tournament will be played from March 31 to May 28
• 74 total matches will be played in 59 days
• 18 double header matches will be played this time
• IPL’s 1000th match will be between Mumbai and Chennai on May 6
• IPL matches will be played at 12 places