Reports | IPL final to be postponed to November 10 to cater to broadcaster’s demands

Although IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel has made this clear in multiple interviews that the board has locked the September 19 to November 8 as the dates for the upcoming IPL, Star India has continuously demanded the Diwali weekend for the play-offs, something that the BCCI has denied due to their commitments to Cricket Australia. However, as reported by Times of India, giving a slight bit of leeway, the IPL GC is planning to host the final on a weekday, instead of a traditional weekend, for the first time to help Star Sports make the optimum use of the festival market.

That would, however, put a spanner in the BCCI’s plan of getting the players back to India for a week ahead of the Australia tour but now that has been shelved, with the players set to travel Australia directly for the Test series from the UAE. All the players will fly together, even though few teams will be knocked out by then, and the flight will take off once the final is over.

“Even if the players are left without any IPL matches, they will continue to remain in UAE and participate in a camp there. As soon as the IPL is over, the remaining players – busy playing the final knockout matches of the league – will join the rest and the entire team will fly together from there,” say those tracking developments, reported ToI.