Group A will be led by five-time champions Mumbai Indians, while four-time winners Chennai Super Kings will be on top in Group B
In a new format for the IPL, starting with the 2022 edition, the 10 teams have been given seedings based on the number of times they have won the IPL or made the finals and, accordingly, been divided into two “virtual” groups for the league phase. Group A will be led by five-time champions Mumbai Indians, who have got the top seeding overall, while four-time winners Chennai Super Kings, will be on top in Group B with the No. 2 seeding.
The other teams in Group A comprise Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, in that order. Group B features Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans, in that order.
Unveiling the new format on Friday, the IPL said in a media release that the 10 teams will play a total of 14 matches – seven home and seven away – during the league phase that comprises 70 matches. Each team will play five other sides twice, both home and away. These five sides will comprise the four other teams from the same group and one team from the other group from the corresponding row as per the seedings. For example, Mumbai will play the other four teams in Group A – Knight Riders, Royals, Capitals and Super Giants – and Super Kings from Group B two times each.
The other four games for each side will be against the remaining teams from the other group, two only at home and two only away.
The home-and-away formula will not be relevant this season, though, because, amid the pandemic, the IPL has decided to restrict the league phase to four venues across two cities: Mumbai and Pune. While Mumbai will host the bulk of the matches (55), the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium on the outskirts of Pune will host 15 matches during the league phase.
Every team will play four times each at Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Sports Academy, and three times each at Brabourne Stadium and the MCA Stadium. While the IPL will finalise and announce the schedule in early March, it remains to be seen whether Mumbai will get any matches at their home base at the Wankhede.
2011 format tweaked
The format is similar to the one utilised in 2011, when 10 teams featured in IPL for the first time. In the 2011 edition, the 10 teams were split into two loose groups, and the tournament comprised 70 league matches and four playoff games, with all the teams ranked in one points table. During the league phase, every team played the same number of league matches, which was 14.
Each team played the other four in their group both home and away (eight matches), four of the teams in the other group once each (four matches, either home or away), and the remaining team in the other group twice, both home and away. A random draw decided the composition of the groups as well as who played whom across the groups once or twice.
For 2022, the IPL also confirmed that the tournament will be played between March 26 and May 29. It will begin 10 days after India’s home Test series against Sri Lanka is scheduled to end. That means the IPL will not follow the RM Lodha Committee recommendation, which had stated that a two-week gap was mandatory between any international series/tournament India played and the IPL.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo