IPL 2019: Playoffs and final to begin at 7:30pm

Owing to the dew factor, the play-offs and final of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2019) will begin at 7:30 pm as opposed to the scheduled 8 pm start.

Chennai's M. A. Chidambaram Stadium will host Qualifier 1 of IPL 2019 on May 7.

The Indian Premier League (IPL 2019) playoffs and final will be begin at 7.30pm, instead of the usual 8pm start. Last year, the playoffs and the final began at 7pm.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), on Saturday, decided to advance the fixtures by half an hour. A BCCI official confirmed to  Sportstar  that since the dew factor will play an important role in the games held in southern India, the changes have been made to accommodate the same. Chennai will host Qualifier 1, while the Eliminator and Qualifier 2 will be held in Visakhapatnam. The final will be played in Hyderabad.

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It has also been learned that the host broadcasters,  Star Sports , had already requested for an early start for the playoffs as they will be followed by an elaborate presentation ceremony.

"When we are conducting big-ticket games, we have to be careful about everything. So, we have decided to start the games early so that the matches end within the time and the spectators have no problem in reaching home after the fixtures," one of the BCCI officials said.

In the ongoing league stage fixtures, some of the matches got over at midnight, which even drew flak from the fans. "We have taken everything into consideration. Even the broadcasters had written to us, so we decided to tweak the timings," the official added.

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It was decided that even the first couple of matches and the final of the Women's T20 Challenge fixtures will be played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur from 7:30pm, while the third game, scheduled on May 9, will be played from 4pm.

"As far as the women's tournament is concerned, this is just a beginning and we want the schedule to be spectator-friendly," the official said.

However, with Jaipur heading for Lok Sabha elections on May 6, the Jaipur Police has made it clear that it won't be able to depute police forces for the opening game. The Board officials are hopeful that there won't be any changes in the schedule.