Indian Premier League to resume on Saturday with final moved to June 3
NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian Premier League will resume on Saturday following the simmering down of cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan.
IPL officials made the announcement on Monday, three days after the world's richest Twenty20 league was suspended owing to military strikes by both countries at each other.
No games will be lost. The Punjab Kings-Delhi Capitals game abandoned in Dharamsala in the 11th over on Thursday will be replayed.
Chandigarh and Dharamsala, Punjab's home and the nearest venues to the border, have been ruled out for security and logistics reasons. Punjab will play its final two round-robin games in Jaipur.
While the government has reopened 32 airports that were closed in India's north-west corridor, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is restricting the number of venues to six to be used when the IPL resumes.
The final, originally scheduled for May 25, will be contested on June 3.
The first two knockout matches will be on May 29 and 30. Qualifier 2 will be on June 1.
The league will resume with Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking on Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru. India superstar Virat Kohli will be in action for the first time since his test retirement announcement earlier Monday.
The last round-robin game will be on May 27 when Lucknow Super Giants host Bengaluru.
Seven teams are vying for the four places in the playoffs. Hyderabad, Rajasthan and Chennai have already been eliminated from contention.
Chennai and Hyderabad will not play their final home games at their stadiums, keeping security and logistics in mind.
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