IPL 2012: IPL 5 commences on April 4 2012 – Chennai

Chepauk is expected to host the finals of IPL 2012 with CSK competing as defending champions. The tournament will begin on April 4 and end on May 27 2012.

WEBWIRE – Thursday, October 20, 2011

As per the confirmed dates of IPL Season 5, the tournament is expected to officially embark in Chennai on the 4th April 2012 & wrap up till 27th May 2012. The opening ceremony of this tournament will be held a day before the inaugural game. The IPL 2012 is expected to continue for 54 days with a sum total of 74 matches to be played against competing teams.

Even though, the Kochi franchise has been scrapped from the 2012 Indian Premier League tournament for violating certain contractual commitments, MR Shukla ensured to work out a plan in their forthcoming Governing Council meeting in order to safeguard the interests of every individual player of the team. A few selected players of the Kochi Team may also be put-up for bidding in the next IPL Auction which is expected to be held towards the end of this year or early next year. Reports have corroborated that Pakistan players might once again be expelled from the tournament.

The brand new IPL Governing Council Chief, Rajiv Shukla backed up these reports by stating “Pakistan players issue was not even in the agenda. So there is no question of discussion”.

IPL Season 5 is expected to clash with a couple of High profile Tours including Australia’s Tour of West Indies (April) & West Indies tour of England (May). Several West Indies players like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo have contributed immensely to their respective teams in the past IPL Tournaments and hopefully will be able to do the same for the next season too. The West Indies Cricket Board has allotted them ‘No Objection Certificates’ for being a part of the IPL Season 5. While Australian players will be granted an option to join the League halfway, the same cannot be said about England players due to their commitment to play for the West Indies tour of England which begins from May 1st 2012. This could further dissuade the bidders from selecting England players to be a part of their franchise team.

The BCCI has presently announced 9 IPL Teams for the 2012 tournament, although the board President N Srinivasan has hinted towards discussing the possibility of issuing a tender for the 10th IPL Franchise in their next meeting which is expected to be held anytime this month. DLF IPL Cricket Tournaments have created a considerable amount of hype and gained tremendous appreciation from the Cricket world. With consecutive additions to the number of IPL teams each, year, the BCCI and Franchises both have agreed to bring back the original Home-and-Away format to the next season.

While disclosing the IPL 2012 Schedule Tournament dates, MR Chirayu Amin, The Chairman of IPL Team released an Official statement that said "We are happy to confirm the opening and closing dates of IPL 2012, ten months in advance. The match-schedule will be announced soon. We have no doubt that the fifth season of IPL will be as, if not more, eventful and exciting than the previous ones. ”

IPL Tickets Booking will be the same as last year. If there is any change in How to Buy the IPL 2012 Tickets Online compared to last year, it will be announced soon as well.