Cric Tracker : Aug 18, 2020, 04:01 PM
New Delhi: The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will get underway on September 19. After crossing so many hurdles, the BCCI confirmed the tournament going ahead earlier this month. But Vivo, the title sponsors, pulled out of this season citing the Anti-China sentiment in the country. And now the leading Fantasy platform, Dream11 has bagged the title sponsorship of the IPL for the 2020 for the whopping amount of Rs 222 crore.It was a setback for the BCCI early on when Vivo pulled out as they had signed a five-year deal from 2018 to 2022. Now they will return as the IPL sponsors next year and stay until 2023. BCCI had asked for the tenders to be submitted by August 14.Tata Group was the leading company to win the sponsorship race according to the sources. However, Dream11 won it eventually according to Economic Times for a whopping amount of Rs 222 crore. Interestingly, the Dream11 is also the official Fantasy partner of the BCCI and the IPL. It also worked as the official partners of the ICC during the World Cup last year.Apart from Dream11 and Tata Group, the online education technology platforms, Unacademy and Byju’s, were also in the race for sponsorship.Schedule likely to be released soonNow that the title sponsor is finalised, the BCCI is likely to release the schedule of the IPL 2020 soon. The tournament duration is already decided with the final set to be played November 10, on a weekday for the first time since 2008. Also, unlike the earlier schedule which was released in February, there will be more double headers to accommodate the travel time of the teams.The matches will be played in three cities, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and it will be interesting to see which venue gets more matches to host. As of now, it has been decided that the first half of the extravaganza will be played behind closed doors. The decision to allow the spectators will be taken later depending on the situation of COVID-19 in the country.