It can be fair to say that the south of India has dominated the IPL format from the past three years and is looking forward to defend their title during the 2012 bash as well. Chennai Super Kings led by Dhoni is all set to grab the trophy in style all over again where the other 8 contestants will look forward to make it tough for the defending champions. From 2009, the Chennai Super Kings had made sure of booking the final birth albeit they lost to the Rajasthan Royals in the first ever edition. Nonetheless, they’ve never looked back from there and have made sure that the defeat during the finals, act as a confidence booster and boy haven’t they made the most of it ?
Focusing on the IPL format this year, one thing that has to be noticed is that the number of clashes have been brought down due to the ousting of the Kochi Tuskers form this edition after their dispute with the Board of Control of Cricket in India, the BCCI. But another interesting fact is that Pune will now get to play their quota at their backyard giving them a better opportunity at the title after the new stadium has been erected on its soil. There are 3 venues that’ll be hosting 2 games each which is supposed to give the clashes a neutral feel as the number of team herein are 9 which makes difficult to have an equal number of matches at home and away without the neutral venues. IPL format 2012 is all set to deliver again with a new set of players added to the teams making the competition even more ferocious.
The big bash will commence from April 4 this year and the league matches will continue till May 20, 2012. A total of seventy six matches would be played out of which 4 are the playoffs played by the Semifinalists, finalists and the teams playing for the 3rd spot. The format of IPL is pretty much the same except for the fact that the home and away games are appropriately scheduled this time around not giving the upper hand to any of the contestants.