The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the entire 13th edition of the Indian Premier League or IPL 2020 that will run between 19th September and 10th November 2020. Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the full league stage schedule of the forthcoming IPL 2020.
During the opening game of the IPL 2020 (19th September 2020), the last year’s finalists Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will face each other at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium (Abu Dhabi).
IPL 2020: 3 Indian Cricketers Who Can Make A Bang On Start In The Opening Game
Hardik Pandya
Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya hasn’t played a recognised cricket match for around a year. After playing the Bengaluru T20I against South Africa on 22nd September 2019, Hardik missed out the next international matches due to his back injury. The all-rounder finally underwent back surgery in October 2019.
Early in this year, he successfully recovered and participated in the local tournament. The all-rounder was set to return to the Indian team during the home ODI series against South Africa in last March but pandemic has forced him to wait for a longer period as the IPL 2020 was also postponed, which was originally scheduled from March to May.
Hardik is now an important member of the Indian team. many cricket experts have praised this all-rounder. After his IPL debut in 2015 for Mumbai Indians, he has played 66 IPL matches where he has scored 1068 runs (average 28.86; strike-rate 154.78), including three fifties, and also taken 42 wickets. He played an important role for Mumbai Indians to win their fourth IPL trophy in the previous season as he scored 402 runs and also took 14 wickets in 16 matches of the IPL 2019.
This forthcoming tournament will be a very crucial period for Hardik as he has to prove himself as a fit and confident cricketer.