In the latest development, the BCCI proposed All-Stars game, which was expected to be held just three days ahead of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is unlikely to happen. As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, all the IPL franchises have been notified that the All-Stars match won’t be taking place anymore before the start of the showpiece tournament on March 29.
It was only last month BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly announced that an IPL All-Stars game will go all guns blazing for charity purpose. The All-stars game was likely to be held days ahead of the IPL 2020 curtain-raiser.
The game as planned would have seen franchises belonging to the South and West part of India namely CSK, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on with the cricketers from the North-East based franchises- Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Kings XI Punjab (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC).
All-stars game will not take place before the start of the IPL 2020: Official
“It is at least not happening before the start of the IPL,” a top official of a south franchise on condition of anonymity was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
On the other hand of the spectrum, a north team official echoed that the BCCI hasn’t even communicated to them about this matter.
Last week, the BCCI announced the complete schedule and fixtures for the league stage of forthcoming IPL 2020 and in that schedule, there was no special mention of the All-Star match.
The cash-rich Indian Premier League will start on March 29 (Sunday) with the opening encounter scheduled to be played between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The IPL final will be held on May 24 (Sunday).
This time around, double-headers on Saturdays is a thing of the past but two consecutive matches will be played on Sundays quite similar to earlier editions of the tournament barring the first and last days of the league stage.