IPL 2012 Cricket Schedule

The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament for 2012 commences on the 4th April 2011. This is season 5 of this fantastic cricketing event with world class players coming together to play for their particular IPL team.

IPL Season 5 takes place between the 4th April 2012 and 27th May 2012 with an anticipated 76 matches to be played. This year sees nine teams competing, from the 10 in the previous year as the IPL franchise ‘Kochi Tuskers Kerala’ were terminated due to their infringement of BCCI’s (Board of Control for Cricket in India) terms and conditions.

The up-beat opening ceremony was held at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the home venue of the reigning champions Chennai Super Kings.

The pop singer Katy Perry performed her track ‘Teenage dream’ in Indian clothes together with her whole crew dressed up too! Amitabh Bachchan recited the poem ‘Janam Yadhi Phir Se Mile’ written by Prasoon Joshi and then addressed the captains of each team in an oath ceremony; Kareena Kapoor performed to a mix of ‘Chhammak Challo and ‘Dil Mera Muft,’; Salman Khan performed Dhinka Chika in his macho style; Priyanka Chopra performed ‘Aaj Ki Raat’ and did a stunt flying in the air and superstar dancer Prabhu Deva performed his Michael Jackson style dance. Attending too were many popular stars, politicians and dignitaries, to support India’s most loved sport and popular sporting event.

News surrounding the games includes Sachin Tendulkar relinquishing MI (Mumbai Indians) captaincy to Harbhajan Singh. In regards to the resignation Sachin said: “The Mumbai Indians is more than a team. It is like a family to me. At this point of time, I feel I need a break from the responsibility of captaincy of the Mumbai Indians.”

There are 76 anticipated games over the 53 days of the IPL’s 5th season. Here the teams will play against one another either home or away. The final format layout will be the top two teams playing against one another in the first play off to be Game A. Winners of game A are then allocated a place in the final. Teams finishing third and fourth will be in the second play off to be Game B. The winners of Game B will play the losers of Game A for a place in the finals, against the winners of Game A.

The schedule has been revised on the 15th March to accommodate the municipal election in Delhi. Here sites for the matches have been swapped – Pune is now hosting the match on the 22nd May and Bengaluru on the 23rd May.

In the UK, the matches and tournament shall be broadcasted on ITV 4. The games schedule for the IPL 2012 is as follows: