Mumbai, May 21: Ahmedabad will host the Indian Premier League’s final on June 3 along with Qualifier 2 while Mullanpur will stage the first two play-off games this month, the BCCI announced on Tuesday.Considering the monsoon, the BCCI has also shifted the May 23 fixture between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru to Lucknow. The last match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was washed out.
Hyderabad and Kolkata were supposed to host the play-offs as per the original dates but the IPL schedule had to be revised in the wake of the India-Pakistan military conflict that halted the event for a week.
The BCCI has also taken the monsoon season into consideration before deciding on the venues.
“The new venues for the Playoffs were decided by the IPL Governing Council keeping in mind the weather conditions and other parameters,” said the BCCI in a statement.
“Similar to the playoffs stage, an additional one hour will be allocated to the playing conditions for the remaining matches of the league stage, starting Tuesday, 20 May,” the statement added.
Qualifier 1 and the Eliminator will take place in Mullanpur on May 29 and 30 while Ahmedabad will stage Qualifier 2 and final on June 1 and 3. Ahmedabad had earlier hosted the IPL final in 2022 and 2023.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru have picked Shivam Shukla and Blessing Muzarabani as replacements for their injured players, the IPL said on Monday.
Defending champions KKR, who are already out of playoffs reckoning, have signed Shukla as a replacement for Rovman Powell for the remainder of the season.
The West Indian all-rounder needs a surgical intervention of his tonsils. Shukla – a leg-spinner – plays for Madhya Pradesh in domestic cricket and will join KKR for Rs 30 lakh.
RCB, meanwhile, have picked Muzarabani as replacement for Lungisani Ngidi, who will leave the franchise to join the South African team for national duties.
The replacement will be effective from May 26.
Muzarabani – the Zimbabwe pacer – has so far played 70 T20Is and has picked 78 wickets. Additionally, he has also represented Zimbabwe in 12 Tests and 55 ODIs. He will join RCB for Rs 75 lakh.