One of the top agendas of the Indian Premier League Governing Council that is meeting on January 27, 2020, in New Delhi, is deciding on the timings of the matches. A call has been made to change timings from 8 pm to 7.30 pm. Besides, Rajasthan Royals has also put forth a request to play in Guwahati, which will be taken up as well.
The demand for a change in timings has been going on for two years now. Star wanted it at 7 pm, and later changed it to 7.30 pm. Star wants an easy start due to three reasons – an early start means a match gets to be wrapped up early and could see a lot more people viewing the post-match presentation ceremony; sponsors will get more exposure and crowds will be able to retire early. However, this has been left to the discretion of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
It has come to fore that the BCCI hasn’t had any sort of formal or informal discussions with any of the team franchises, as yet. However, there are other facts to be considered also in case there is an early start. “Dew is a big factor under lights and an early start will give one team more advantage than the other. Crowds in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore need time after wrapping up work to reach their respective venues. Even in an 8pm start, stadium begins to fill up only by 8.30pm. More importantly, cricket can't be compromised for TV ratings,” TOI quoted sources in favour of an 8 pm start.
