All the tickets for the IPL T20 season 2 opener in Newlands, Cape Town has supposedly been sold out within two hours today. Most people were quite critical of how the South African people would react to the Indian Premier League after the venue had to be shifted to South Africa due to clash with general elections in India. But if the occupancy of the IPL opener is any hint for the rest of the tournament then it might turn out to be a huge success in SA too. The IPL opener on April 18 would include a grand opening ceremony and two matches back to back. In addition to that there will be the mix of Bollywood and Hollywood in the IPL season 2 opener. IPL has been aggressively promoted amongst the masses and most of the matches has also been organized on cities with huge Indian population. The ticket prices has also been kept quite affordable so that all the South African people can enjoy this extravaganza of cricket and entertainment without burning a hole in their pocket. And this hard work by BCCI and South African Cricket seems to have already shown the results. It was expected that ticket sales in SA might take a few weeks to catch up but the sell out of the tickets in the IPL opener has ended all the negative presumptions. And there has been booking of tickets not only from South Africa but from other countries like England, Middle East and South Africa. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that IPL T20 season 2 might help them in gaining a global fan base.
Although the full occupancy in the IPL opener cannot guarantee full occupancy for the rest of the matches but it is surely a definite trend that cannot be denied. Let us wish that the occupancy is full in most of the match and IPL T20 season 2 turns out to be a grand success. And whatever we say it seems Lalit Modi always has the laugh laugh.
Bollywood and Hollywood stars will attend the opening ceremony of the second season of IPL T20 if reports are to be believed. Hollywood actors Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are likely to grace the opening ceremony on April 18 at Newlands alongside IPL franchise owners and Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty. Last year’s runner-up Chennai Super Kings will play the opening match against Mumbai Indians while IPL season 1 winner Rajasthan Royals will take the challenge of Bangalore Royal Challengers in the second match subsequently on the same venue.
The match tickets for the opening for the opening matches will go on sale from April 3 and it has been kept modest and in terms with the 2007 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. The tickets will start from Rand 50 for children, Rand 100 for a grass ticket and upto Rand 200 for a seat (1 South African Rand ~ 5.5 Indian National Rupees). According to Stadium Authorities, there is major interest amongst the public for the matches and so the ticket prices have been kept affordable.
To increase the maximum occupancy of stadiums the IPL schedule has been organized in such a way that the maximum amount of matches are played in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg which are cities with the largest Indian population. Out of the 56 games to be played in IPL T20 season 2, 33 games has been staged in these three venues.
Let us wait for the next two weeks to see if the South African people likes the mix dose of cricket, Bollywood, Hollywood and cheerleaders. But going by the way the organizers are working on the event, it might become a success this year too.
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has officially announced the schedule of the IPL season 2 in South Africa. As mentioned in my previous post, Wanderers Stadium will host the IPL final, a semi final and six other matches while the opening match is at Cape Town. The match timings have been kept at 4 PM and 8 PM IST as promised by Lalit Modi.
Here is the exact schedule:
April 18: Rajasthan Royals (RR) v Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) (4 pm) at Cape Town; Mumbai Indians (MI) v Chennai Super Kings (CSK) (8 pm) at Cape Town
April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) v Deccan Chargers (DC) (4 pm) at Cape Town; Delhi Daredevils (DD) v Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) (8 pm) at Cape Town
April 20: RCB V CSK (4 pm) at Port Elizabeth
April 21: RR v MI (4 pm) at Durban; KKR v KXIP (8 pm) at Durban
April 22: DD v CSK (4 pm) at Durban; RCB v DC (8 pm) at Cape Town
April 23: KKR v RR (4 pm) at Port Elizabeth
April 24: KXIP v RCB (4 pm) at Johannesburg
April 25: KKR v CSK (4 pm) at Cape Town; DC v MI (8 pm) at Durban
April 26: RR v KXIP (4 pm) at Cape Town; RCB v DD (8 pm) Port Elizabeth
April 27: KKR v MI (4 pm) at Cape Town; CSK v DC (8 pm) at Durban
April 28: DD v RR (4 pm) at Pretoria
April 29: MI v KXIP (4 pm) at Durban; KKR v RCB (8 pm) at Durban
April 30: DD v DC (4 pm) at Pretoria; RR v CSK (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 1: RCB v KXIP (4 pm) at East London; MI v KKR (8 pm) at Durban
May 2: RR v DC (4 pm) at Johannesburg; CSK v DD (8 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 3: MI v RCB (4 pm) at Durban; KXIP v KKR (8 pm) at East London
May 4: DC v CSK (4 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 5: DD v KKR (4 pm) at Durban; KXIP v RR (8 pm) at Durban
May 6: MI v DC (4 pm) at Pretoria
May 7: KXIP v CSK (4 pm) at Pretoria; RCB v RR (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 8: DD v MI (4 pm) at East London
May 9: DC v KXIP (4 pm) at Bloemfontein; CSK v RR (8 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 10: KKR v DD (4 pm) at East London; RCB v MI (8 pm) at Johannesburg
May 11: DC v RR (4 pm) at Bloemfontein
May 12: RCB v KKR (4 pm) at Pretoria; KXIP v MI (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 13: DC v DD (4 pm) at Durban
May 14: MI v RR (4 pm) at Durban; CSK v RCB (8 pm) at Durban
May 15: KXIP v DD (4 pm) at Kimberley
May 16: CSK v MI (4 pm) at Johannesburg; DC v KKR (8 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 17: RR v DD (4 pm) at Kimberley; KXIP v DC (8 pm) at Johannesburg
May 18: CSK v KKR (4 pm) at Pretoria
May 19: DD v RCB (4 pm) at Johannesburg
May 20: CSK v KXIP (4 pm) at Durban; RR v KKR (8 pm) at Durban
May 21: DC v RCB (4 pm) at Pretoria; MI v DD (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 22: Semi Final 1 at Pretoria
May 23: Semi Final 2 at Johannesburg
May 24: Final at Johannesburg
