IPL 2020: BCCI announces Bengaluru-based bill payment platform CRED as official partner

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Bengaluru-based credit card bill payment platform CRED as its official partner for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, September 1. 

India's cricketing agency took to Twitter on Tuesday and said, "BCCI announces CRED as Official Partner for IPL #Dream11IPL" to which BCCI President Sourav Ganguly replied, "Well done BCCI .. in this tuff market situation.."

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Matches to be played in evening and afternoon

The 13th edition of the IPL is scheduled to be played in the UAE over 53 days from September 19 to November 10, across three places – Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai. The council has said that matches will be played both in the afternoon and evening but half-an-hour earlier than usual. 

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The BCCI press release read, "IPL 2020 will be played from September 19 and the final will be played on November 10, 2020. The 53-day tournament will witness 10-afternoon matches starting at 15:30 IST while the evening matches will start at 19:30 IST". 

Originally, the IPL 2020 was scheduled to be played from March 29 but was postponed keeping in mind the COVID-19 safety protocols amid the pandemic. Earlier, BCCI informed that it has tied up with VPS Healthcare to conduct COVID-19 tests over the series.

As the board has mandated COVID-19 tests every 5th day, it is expected to conduct more than 20,000 RT-PCR tests throughout the two-month-long tournament. BCCI has also informed that it is expected to incure around Rs 10 crores for the COVID tests itself. 

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The BCCI said in a statement on Saturday, "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has put in place stringent health and safety protocols for the Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020 Season, which is scheduled to start from September 19th in the UAE." 

Accordingly, upon landing in the UAE, all the participants underwent a mandatory testing and quarantine programme. A total of 1,988 RT-PCR COVID tests were carried out between August 20th - 28th across all participant groups including players, support staff, team management, board staff, IPL operational team as well as hotel and ground transport staff.

Image: BCCI/Twitter

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