There is a lot of anticipation among the fans for the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The tournament has become one of the many reason to look forward to the great Indian summer and it’s no different this year. However, while everyone is keen to know the schedule and the IPL fixtures list for 2023, which is set to return to its traditional home and away format after the COVID-19 induced break, there has not yet been an official announcement on the same by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
While it is still not clear when will IPL 2023 schedule be announced, one of the possible reasons behind why the Board has not yet announced the schedule for the tournament is a brand new event in their calendar- the Women’s Premier League. Notably, this is the first time ever that the Indian Cricket Board will host a full-fledged tournament like the IPL for women cricketers. Even though there have been a few editions of the Women’s T20 Challenge in the past, those were three-team competition with only 4 matches in total including the final.
The Board’s preoccupation to finalise a lot of things for a new tournament altogether might have delayed the IPL 2023 schedule announcement which, as per an Inside Sport report, was expected to come out in the first week of February. Now with the inaugural WPL schedule announced, in all likelihood IPL 2023 will start only after the WPL final which is scheduled on March 26.
🗓️ Mark Your Calendars
Get Ready to support your favourite teams 👏 👏
The schedule for the inaugural edition of Women’s Premier League is here 🔽 #WPL pic.twitter.com/O1HHvRUh0k
— Women’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 14, 2023
India in with a chance to qualifty for World Test Championship final
Another possible explanation behind no official word from the BCCI on the IPL 2023 schedule is India’s qualification chances for the World Test Championship 2021-23 final. With India’s chances of securing a place in this summit clash depending upon the result of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, there is a possibility that the Board might wait for at least the first two Test matches to end before taking a final call.
This is because if India were to qualify for the WTC 2021-23 final, which will happen if India win 4-0, 3-0, 3-1, 2-0, 2-1, 1-0 or draw 2-2, then the Board would ideally want their Test playing members to reach England early. The ICC has confirmed that the WTC final will be played from June 7 at the Oval, leaving BCCI a window from March 27 to the end of May to conduct IPL 2023, which is a 65-day window.
Earlier reports had emerged suggesting that the initial idea was to have the IPL on a 74-day window but now the IPL could be wrapped up in less than 60 days. With April 1 being a Saturday, it could be a perfect start to the blockbuster league and a tentative date for the final being May 28, which again falls on a Sunday, leaving 8 days in between the IPL 2023 final and WTC final.
For now, the entire cricketing community awaits the IPL 2023 schedule announcement.
