3 teams who have a challenging schedule in second phase of IPL 2024 ft. Rajasthan Royals
The BCCI announced the schedule for the second phase of IPL 2024 yesterday evening (March 25). The board had only declared a part of the schedule initially because the General Elections dates were not out. A few days ago, the dates for the General Elections were released, allowing the BCCI to work on the second part of the schedule.
Like the 2019 season of the IPL, the BCCI has smartly managed to keep all matches in India. Some reports claimed that UAE could host some part of the tournament, but those reports proved to be inaccurate.
Speaking of the second part of the IPL 2024 schedule, it involves enormous travel for some franchises. Here's a look at the three teams which have a hectic schedule for the second part of IPL 2024.
#1 Rajasthan Royals will have to travel a lot in IPL 2024
Rajasthan Royals (RR) started their IPL 2024 season with a victory over the Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday afternoon. RR will not travel much in the first part of the league as they will play three of their next four matches at home.
However, in the second part of the schedule, they will have to travel across the country. They will play a match against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur on April 10, followed by a clash against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on April 13. Four days later, RR will battle Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata and then return to Jaipur for a match against Mumbai Indians on April 22.
The venues for RR's next five matches will be Lucknow, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, and Guwahati, which means they will have to travel from north to south to north to south and then northeast in the space of 17 days.
#2 Royal Challengers Bengaluru
The BCCI announced three home matches for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the first part of the IPL 2024 schedule, leaving too many away matches for them in the remainder of the league stage.
RCB will play against Lucknow Super Giants in Bengaluru on April 2, and then travel to Jaipur for a battle against Rajasthan Royals on April 6. In the next 22 days, RCB will travel from Jaipur to Mumbai to Bengaluru to Kolkata to Hyderabad to Ahmedabad to Bengaluru. After a four-day break, they will head to Dharamsala before returning to Bengaluru again.
#3 Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians will play four consecutive home matches from April 1 to 14 at the Wankhede Stadium. Thus, their second part of the tournament will involve a lot of travel.
MI will head from Mumbai to Mullanpur after April 14 and then take flights to Jaipur, Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Mumbai back again in the next one month.
The good thing for MI is that they will get enough rest during the first phase of the tournament as they do not have to travel for 15 days. However, if they make it to the next round, the team will be tired due to travel ahead of the playoffs matches.