IPL Schedule for the first 2 weeks announced, RCB-CSK to clash in the Opener

The BCCI announced the schedule for the first two weeks of the Indian Premier League on Tuesday (19th February). Defending Champions Chennai Super Kings will host Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening game on 23rd March at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The MS Dhoni-led side will be playing the opening game in Chennai as the defending champions usually play the first game. They will face Virat Kohli's RCB who haven't won an IPL title in spite of playing all the 11 seasons.

The Election Commission of India will announce the dates for the general election in the first week of March. The schedule of the IPL is therefore subject to change as the fans will have to wait for the election dates for the rest of the time table to be announced.

With reference to the election issue, the press release stated, "This is still subject to the announcement of Lok Sabha 2019 election dates. Once the election dates are released we will address any issues with the first two weeks and also prepare a schedule for the remainder of the season working with the local authorities around the polling dates."

As of now, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals are the only teams to play 5 games in the opening 2 weeks while the rest of the teams will play 4 games, 2 home games and 2 away games. 3-time runners up RCB will be playing 3 away games at Chennai, Hyderabad, and Jaipur while Delhi Capitals will be playing 3 home matches.

A total of 17 games will be played from 23rd March to 5th April across 8 different venues all over the country. According to the current schedule, 3 games will be played in the afternoon at Kolkata, Mohali, and Hyderabad.

Here is the schedule of the IPL: