The IPL 2020 season is done, with the Mumbai Indians further cementing their spot as one of the greatest teams in the league’s history. With that still fresh in the minds of fans, talks about the next and 14th season in 2021 have started and people are eager to have as much information as they can have about it.
While there is very little available information right now about the IPL 2021 season, there are already things that fans can go with, such as early IPL 2021 betting odds sites in India, for example. But aside from that, what are the things that we currently know about the upcoming IPL 2021 season?
When will the IPL 2021 start?
While there is still no official start date announced for the upcoming IPL 2021, it is already expected that it would be delayed by at least two weeks, as compared to the start date of the IPL 20219 season. This pouts the possible opening of the upcoming season by no earlier than April 10, 2021. This hint was due to the current schedule of England’s tour of India that is facilitated by the BCCI. To recall, the IPL 2019 opened its season on March 23, 2019.
The BCCI, as per their announced schedule for India’s four-Test, five T20I, and three ODI series facing off with England, would have all these activities end on March 8, 2021. Following that, IPL players are expected to take a short break and fulfill any commercial or sponsorship obligation that some of them may have on backlog before they can finally get ready for the new season.
Time is one of the biggest pressures here as the 2020 season was delayed so much that almost the entire calendar of activities for the league was moved to a later date.
Suresh Raina to return to professional cricket
Former India and Chennai Super Kings batsman Suresh Raina has been confirmed to return to the Indian Premier League. Known as one of the highest earners in the IPL’s franchise history, Raina did not play for the league for more than two years, with his last team being CSK.
After he decides to skip the IPL 2020 and leaving CSK, Raina would then have to undergo an auction process before getting signed on for his new team, or whether if CSK would end up acquiring him again. As for the auction itself, the BCCI has yet to announce how the deals for the upcoming seasons would go. Regardless, for Raina, the Syed Mushtaq Ali would be a good way to showcase his strength before the actual auctions start.
New teams? Maybe, maybe not
One of the several changes that are being suggested for the IPL 2021 season is the addition of new teams. This would have not been a problem, had the world, particularly India, did not go through the pandemic that started earlier this year and is still raging on in several parts of the world.
Some BCCI officials are reportedly thinking that adding teams for this season is not a feasible decision. This is considering that there is very little time to prepare for the new teams–since setting up a team is not as easy as gathering people to play and getting a coach to manage. Another reason is that adding in more teams would also mean having more games in a home and wavy format. This is something that does not sound like a good idea, especially in the times of a pandemic like what India is still going through right now.
