The Indian cricket fans are eagerly waiting for the IPL 2022 to begin as this time it is going to be bigger and better than ever because two new teams Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans will be joining the eight existing teams in the fight to win the IPL trophy. The tournament is going to start from March 26 and the final will be played on May 29. The players will need to live in bio-bubble due to COVID-19 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided that matches will be played at four venues only in order to avoid more traveling to reduce the risk of getting infected with the virus. The three venues have been finalized in Mumbai – Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium and one venue has been chosen in Pune which is – MCA International Stadium.
Many of us thought that this time, the matches played will be more than the earlier seasons as two new teams have been added in the tournament but BCCI has change the format of the league phase so that the number of matches gets reduce to some extent. However no changes have been made in regard to the play-offs and each team will still play 14 matches in the league phase but in a different manner.
The 10 teams have been divided in two groups, the Group A has Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants and the Group B consists of Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans.
MI and CSK have been kept on the top in the groups on the basis of the number of trophies won by them. Each team will play 2 matches with the teams of their group and 2 matches with one team of the other group and one-one match with other four teams of the other group. BCCI has given seedings to each team and it will decide which teams from different groups will play 2 matches against each other.
The Indian Twitterati went berserk after seeing that this new format is a little complicated and difficult to understand. Here are some selected reactions:
#1
KKR fans after seeing the group division 😩#IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/Kjm6iXfcN5
— 🦉 (@Flicks_it) February 25, 2022
#2
Can somebody plzz explain how this gonna work that IPL GROUP SHIT..?
— abbhhiiiiiiii (@abbhhiiiiiii) February 25, 2022
#3
Me trying to understand the groupings and double fixtures format for #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/SPphiL0qhS
— Sameer Allana (@HitmanCricket) February 25, 2022
#4
Trying to understand the new #IPL2022 group structure and match schedule idea. pic.twitter.com/EjJnQAndoc
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) February 25, 2022
#5
Strange schedule. In my opinion Group A topper should play bottom of Group B twice and the rest should follow in that fashion. MI should not be playing CSK twice. It should be GT. RR and RCB on same level should play twice.
— Srikanth Natarajan (@SrikanthNatara2) February 25, 2022
#6
Going through IPL's new format and fixture list #IPL2022 #IPL pic.twitter.com/fUIVQNaNiI
— Eshwar K (@MRA_Warrenboi) February 25, 2022
#7
Me showing new IPL format to my friends pic.twitter.com/vDV56mC2gx
— Witty Doc (@humourdoctor) February 25, 2022
What is your opinion about this new format of the IPL 2022? Let us know.
