NEW DELHI: The much-anticipated 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will kick off on March 22, with defending champions Chennai Super Kings taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), breaking the cash-rich league’s long-standing tradition of the opening match between last edition’s winners and runners-up.
MS Dhoni-led CSK will play their first match in front of their home crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The BCCI on Thursday unveiled the 21-match schedule for the first 17 days of the tournament, taking into consideration the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The complete IPL schedule will be disclosed at a later date, pending the finalisation of the general election dates.

Despite the upcoming general elections, the tournament will take place entirely in India.
The IPL was held entirely overseas only once, in 2009, in South Africa. In 2014, a portion of the tournament was held in the UAE due to the elections. However, in 2019, the IPL took place in India despite the elections.
The final of the IPL is likely to be held in the last week of May, just before the start of the T20 World Cup. India’s first World Cup match will be against Ireland in New York on June 5.
The T20 World Cup will start with a clash between the USA and Canada on June 2.
The IPL players’ auction for the 2024 season took place in December last year, with Australian pacer Mitchell Starc becoming the most expensive player in IPL history after being bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 24.75 crore.