News

All-star match to take place post IPL 2020

Both teams will picked based on performances during the tournament

Nagraj Gollapudi
20-Feb-2020
Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni greet each other  •  BCCI

Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni greet each other  •  BCCI

The one-off all-star match that was meant to preface IPL 2020 will now be played after the tournament. The match was originally scheduled to be played three days before the IPL, which begins on March 29, but due to operational reasons it is now set to be played after the tournament which ends on May 24. No date or venue has been finalised yet though.
IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed the development, saying the two teams for the game would be picked based on the performances of the players in the tournament. "It will be after the tournament," Patel, a former India batsman, told ESPNcricnfo. "We will see the performance of the players and on that basis the two teams will be selected."
The all-star match was originally proposed by the Patel and found support from the BCCI. ESPNcricinfo understands at the last IPL Governing Council meeting, held on January 27, it was decided to have a selection committee in place to pick the two teams. That meeting was attended by the BCCI's top brass including Sourav Ganguly (president), Jay Shah (secretary) and Arun Dhumal (treasurer).
In that meeting, the date for the all-star match was tentatively set as March 25 while Mumbai was picked as the venue, considering the tournament opener between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings was scheduled at the Wankhede stadium on March 29.
Subsequently, however, the BCCI realised it did not have much time to get various things in place including the availability of players as well raising a broadcast tender. The IPL begins barely 10 days after the three-match ODI series between India and South Africa, which ends on March 18 in Kolkata.
Immediately after the ODIs against South Africa, five Indian players are set to travel to Bangladesh to participate in two T20Is between an Asian XI and a World XI, organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board to commemorate the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding father. The BCCI has not yet announced who will be going, but some prominent India players are part of the list of names approved.
One of the officials, who attended the January IPL governing council meeting, said there is ample time now to float the tender and discuss the rights for the all-star match with Star, who hold the broadcast rights for IPL till 2022. It is understood a team lead by Patel was meant to meet up with Star to talk about the tender for the all-star match. That meeting is yet to take place. At the January 27 meeting it was also decided that the proceeds from the match will likely be used for a charitable purpose.

Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo