The 2022 Indian Premier League will see a tweak in format as 10 teams will be divided into groups of five but the number of matches per side will remain 14. The BCCI announced on Friday that the 10 IPL teams will play 14 league matches each (7 home and 7 away). Each team will play five teams twice and the remaining four teams only once. As per groupings released by BCCI on Friday, group A comprises Mumbai Indians, KKR, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Supergiants. The group B will have Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans. For example, KKR will play twice in the league stages against MI, RR, DC, LSG and SRH (the team in the same row in the other group). KKR will play only once against CSK, RCB, PBKS and GT. The format is similar to that used for the 2011 edition, when IPL had two new teams in Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
The groupings have been done as per IPL performance where group A has MI (Team 1) with five titles as first team. Correspondingly, in group B, the first team is CSK (Team 2) which has four titles. Team 3 is again placed in group A and that is KKR with two titles and the corresponding Team 4 placed in group B is SRH with a sole title. Team 5 again in group A is Rajasthan Royals (1 title) and its corresponding Team 6 in group B is RCB, which has played three finals. Team 7 in group A is DC, which has one final appearance and two play-offs while corresponding Team 8 in group B is Punjab Kings with one final appearance. Newcomers, Lucknow Super Giants is Team 9 in group A and Gujarat Titans is corresponding team 10 in group B. IPL will kick off on March 26 and wrap up on May 29, with 70 league matches set to be played across four venues in Mumbai and Pune. Each team will play 4 matches each at Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium, and 3 matches each at Brabourne Stadium (CCI) and MCA International Stadium, Pune. "The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League will be played in a bio-secure environment at a single hub to avoid air travel which is considered as a major threat for the spread of COVID-19 infection, thereby affecting the players and the League/matches," the BCCI explained.
