MI and SRH were due to play in the afternoon on October 8 in Abu Dhabi from 3:30 IST, followed by the night encounter between RCB and DC in Dubai from 7:30 IST. On Monday, BCCI and IPL governing council confirmed these two matches will be played concurrently, which is unprecedented in IPL’s 13-year-long game transforming history.
“In a first for the IPL, the last two league matches before the VIVO IPL 2021 Playoffs will be played concurrently,”
“On the last day of the league stage (08.10.2021) of the ongoing season, instead of having one afternoon match and one evening match, two matches (SRH v MI and RCB v DC) will be played simultaneously at 7.30 PM IST (6.00 PM GST).”
confirmed BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a media release.
No official reason was given for the move in the BCCI release, but one basic advantage of the decision is not lost on anyone. With the Premier League being such a closely contested tournament, playing matches separately on the last couple of days of the league stage gives teams some edge when it comes to the NRR situation. That numerical know-how and clarity of what exactly needs to be done to keep their head above the other teams is not there anymore.
Apart from that, the BCCI has confirmed that it will be releasing the IPL Media Rights Tender for the next five-year cycle spanning 2023 to 2027 after October 25, the date when the Indian board is due to announce the two new teams that will be taking part from the 2022 edition.
With the IPL set to become a 10-team league and likely to feature at least 74 games, the BCCI is expecting a multifold increase in IPL’s already hefty media rights value.
