The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League will be played across four venues in Mumbai and Pune with the 10 teams divided in two groups, the BCCI said on Friday.
"The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League will be played in a bio-secure environment at a single hub to avoid air travel which is considered as a major threat for the spread of COVID-19 infection, thereby affecting the players and the League/matches," the BCCI said in a media release on Friday.
IPL will begin on March 26 and will finish with the final on May 29.
A total of 70 league matches will be played across four venues in Maharashtra -- Wankhede Stadium (20 matches), DY Patil stadium (20 matches) and Brabourne stadium (15 matches) in Mumbai, along with Pune's MCA International Stadium (15 matches). The venue for the play-off games will be decided later.
The 10 teams will play a total of 14 league matches -- seven home matches and seven away matches -- totalling to 70 league matches, followed by the four play-off matches.
In the format similar to the 2011 IPL, the teams will be divided in two groups with each team playing five teams twice and the remaining four teams only once (2 only home and 2 only away).
All the 10 teams will play four matches each at Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium, while they will play three matches each at Brabourne Stadium (CCI) and MCA International Stadium, Pune.
The teams have been assigned in two virtual groups based on the number of IPL titles won followed by the number of final matches played by the respective teams.
The details of the teams winning the IPL and the number of times they have made the final:
| Team | Winner | Final |
| Mumbai Indians | 5 | 6 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 4 | 9 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 2 | 3 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 1 | 2 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 1 | 1 |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 0 | 3 |
| Delhi Capitals | 0 | 1 |
| Punjab Kings | 0 | 1 |
| Lucknow Super Giants | 0 | 0 |
| Gujarat Titans | 0 | 0 |
The virtual groups:
| Group A | Group B | ||
| 1 | Mumbai Indians (5) | 2 | Chennai Super Kings |
| 3 | Kolkata Knight Riders (2) | 4 | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| 5 | Rajasthan Royals (1) | 6 | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 7 | Delhi Capitals | 8 | Punjab Kings |
| 9 | Lucknow Super Giants | 10 | Gujarat Titans |
Each team will play twice with the teams in their group and with the team in the same row in the second group. With the rest of the teams in the other group they will play only once during the season.
For Example: In Group A, MI will play 2 matches each against KKR, RR, DC, LSG. They will also play 2 matches against CSK and 1 match each against the other teams in Group B.
Similarly, in Group B, RCB will play 2 matches against CSK, SRH, PBKS and GT. They will also play 2 matches against RR and 1 match each against other teams in Group A.
