New Delhi, March 7: All league games of the Indian Premier League beginning March 23 will start at the usual prime time spot of 8 pm, said COA chief Vinod Rai on Thursday.

The afternoon matches will start at 4 pm and night matches at 8 pm.

There was speculation that the BCCI was under pressure to change the timings of the night matches to 7 pm when most teams wanted the Board to stick to the 8 pm slot. IPL 2019 Schedule in PDF: Download VIVO Indian Premier League 12 Full Timetable With Fixtures, Matches, Team and Venue Details.

"Matches will begin at 8 pm," said Rai after the COA meeting here. Even last year, there was speculation that the matches will have an earlier 7 pm start but all league games began at 8 pm. However, the play-offs including the final began at 7 pm.

"We welcome BCCI's decision to retain the match timings. Like last year, we wanted the games to have an 8 pm start. This time, we were not yet approached by the BCCI regarding match timings but we were eagerly awaiting its decision," a team official told PTI.

Last month, the BCCI announced the schedule for the first two weeks of IPL while the full schedule will be announced after dates of general elections are made public. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will face Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL opener on March 23 in Chennai.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)