Mumbai Indians object revised IPL timings, says it will impact venue

With Star winning the IPL broadcast rights this year, they went on to propose a change of timings for their prime-time viewers. As per their revised match timings, the evening games would be advanced to 7 pm, while the first games of doubleheaders will start at 5:30 pm. Earlier, the afternoon games started at 4 pm while the evening games started at 8 pm.

The proposed change hasn’t gone down well with the franchises, who are wary that two matches could overlap during doubleheaders. Mumbai Indians' co-owner, Akash Ambani, was the latest to express his reservations with the change.

"For us it is tough. Because people of Bombay work till 6:30-7. It's going to be impossible making for a game at 7'o clock. You are impacting the revenue. You are impacting the audience coming there. So we are objecting to that," said Ambani to Cricbuzz.

The IPL governing council is well aware of the situation and have around two months to go before the tournament starts on April 7.

“The broadcaster (Star India) had request (to change timings) and the GC considered the request during its meeting. After that, we have received objections from a couple of franchises. We’ll discuss with the franchises and the broadcasters. We’ll arrive at a decision in an amicable way,” IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla told yesterday.