The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that the opening ceremony of the 2018 edition of Indian Premier League will be held on April 7, at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. It must be noted that the IPL grand inauguration ceremony was planned on April 6, and was also planned to be held in the Cricket Club of India.
This change in location was done, following an instruction from the Administrative committee formed by the Supreme Court. The committee, lead by Vinod Rai has also reduced the budget by a massive 20 crores. The CoA has reduced the budget from 50 crores to 30 crores, as reported by the BCCI. The first match of the premier tournament will be held between Mumbai Indians, the defending champions, and two time champs Chennai Super Kings which is making a comeback to the tournament along with Rajasthan Royals, both the franchises being banned from playing for 2 years, on charges of spot fixing.
The 11th edition of
the popular tournament will take place for 51 days, across 9 venues, and the
second match will have Delhi Daredevils battling out Kings XI Punjab at Delhi.
The highly anticipated final between Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2 will be played
on May 27 at the Wankhede Stadium.
