New Delhi: The stage is finally set for one of the biggest cricketing events to begin. The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council has announced the schedule for Vivo IPL 2021 to be held in the country from 9 April.

The sporting extravaganza will return home after two years during which the world braved a pandemic and lockdown restrictions were put in place to combat it. The Vivo IPL 2021 will be hosted by Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, said BCCI honorary secretary Jay Shah on Sunday.

However, all the matches will be played behind closed doors to begin with and a call on allowing spectators will be taken at a later stage of the tournament, added Shah.

The season will kickstart on 9 April in Chennai with a high octane clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The world’s largest cricket stadium - Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the playoffs as well as the final on 30 May. The newly-built stadium that hosted India’s second pink ball fixture at home will witness its first ever IPL.

Each team is set to play at four venues during the league stage. Out of the 56 league matches, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru will host 10 matches each while Ahmedabad and Delhi will host eight games each. All the matches will be played at neutral venues and no team will play at their home venue. All teams will play at four out of six venues during the league stage, said the BCCI.

There will be a total of 11 double headers where six teams will play three afternoon matches and two teams will play two afternoon matches. The afternoon games are slated for a 3:30 pm IST start while the evening games will have a 7:30 pm IST start.

After hosting the tournament safely and successfully in the UAE last year with all safety protocols in place, the BCCI said that it is confident of hosting the IPL at home with health and safety of players and all people involved being paramount. “The fixtures of the tournament have been mapped in a way that every team will travel only three times during the league stage, thus reducing commute and minimising risk,” said Shah.

The complete fixtures for Vivo IPL 2021 can be accessed HERE.