IPL announces its schedule to IPL-2 hosted at SA

Cape Town will host the opening ceremony and the first match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on April 18 while the Wanderers Stadium will host the final on May 24.

The semi-finals are to be held on May 22 and 23 in Pretoria and Johannesburg respectively, as per the full schedule of the Twenty20 league.

In a double header on the first day, champions Rajasthan Royals will take on Bangalore Royal Challengers while the evening game will be contested between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Superkings.

Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, East London, Kimberley, Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth will be the 8 hosts for the 59 games.

Durban, which has a large South Asian community has been allotted the most games - 16 while Centurion in Pretoria will play host to 12 games.

The Wanderers in Johannesburg and Newlands in Cape Town come next best with eight matches each, with the latter playing host to four of these on the first two days of the tournament.

Seven matches are to be held in St George's Park in Port Elizabeth while Buffalo Park in East London has been allotted four matches.

Two matches each have been allocated to Outsurance Oval in Bloemfontein and De Beers Oval in Kimberley. Matches will start at 4 pm IST (12.30 pm local time) and 8 pm IST (4.30pm local time). There are a total of 10 double headers (two matches back-to-back at the same venue) with Durban hosting half of these.

Schedule: All times IST (GMT + 0530)

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.

© Cricbuzz

Pietersen and Flintoff fetch record $1.55M in IPL

(CNN) -- England's Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff have become the highest-priced players in the Indian Premier League after being bought for $1.55 million each.

England Test star Kevin Pietersen and team-mate Andrew Flintoff have won huge IPL contracts.

Friday's auction saw the world's richest Twenty20 league's eight teams bidding to take on 17 players from a list of 42.
Batting star Pietersen and all-rounder Flintoff, both former England captains, easily exceeded their reserve prices of $1.35 million and $950,000 respectively.
Pietersen was picked up by the league's bottom side -- the Bangalore Royal Challengers -- while Flintoff is headed for the third-rated Chennai Super Kings.
Both will only receive half of their massive fees in their first year because of being available for only three of the six weeks of the tournament.
Pietersen, who with Flintoff is playing a Test match in Jamaica against West Indies, was stunned by the price he fetched.
"It's an unbelievable amount of money and I can't wait to get out there," he told Press Association.
The Challengers' owner, billionaire Vijay Mallya, told the IPL's official Web site that he had always been keen on Pietersen.
"He would be a superb addition to the team. We had a list of players before the auction and KP [Pietersen] topped that list. We needed to strengthen our batting and I was prepared to pay more for him.
"It is a worthwhile investment and ensures the balance that we wanted in our team," Mallya said.
Flintoff said he wanted to concentrate on the Test series before turning his mind to the IPL.
"I am very pleased. However, I am here playing a Test match, so my mind is full of that and the IPL is in six weeks' time.
"It's not been in the back of my mind on tour, I just regard it as a massive bonus."
A third former England captain, Paul Collingwood, sold for $275,000, just above his reserve price of $250,000.
England's Test stars have been given a three-week window to appear in the tournament which takes place from April 10 to May 29.
They did not take part in the inaugural competition last year because of a clash with the early summer Test series against New Zealand.
Players given an IPL contract are paid on a pro-rata basis.
South Africa's JP Duminy amd the Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait also attracted keen interest in the sale.
The Mumbai Indians picked Duminy up for $950,000 -- $650,000 more than his reserve price -- and Tait went to the Rajasthan Royals for $375,000.
The huge salaries underline the commercial success of the Indian Premier League which was launched to huge fanfare last year, but has raised fears among traditional cricket supporters that it could undermine the status of Test cricket.

IPL 2009 IPL Schedule, IPL Fixtures 2009

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DLF IPL Schedule / IPL Fixtures 2009

IPL 2009 is tentatively scheduled between April 10 and May 29 2009. Deatils fixtures will be announced soon.

Date	Match	Venue	Time (IST)
April 10	Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils	Jaipur	8pm
April 11	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers	Kolkata	4pm
April 11	Chennai Super Kings vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Chennai	8pm
April 12	Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab	Delhi	4pm
April 12	Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals	Mumbai	8pm
April 13	Deccan Chargers vs Chennai Super Kings	Hyderabad	8pm
April 14	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Bangalore	8pm
April 15	Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians	Mohali	8pm
April 16	Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils	Hyderabad	4pm
April 16	Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals	Chennai	8pm
April 17	Mumbai Indians vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Mumbai	8pm
April 18	Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers	Mohali	4pm
April 18	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils	Kolkata	8pm
April 19	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Rajasthan Royals	Bangalore	4pm
April 19	Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings	Mumbai	8pm
April 20	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab	Kolkata	8pm
April 21	Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians	Delhi	8pm
April 22	Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers	Jaipur	8pm
April 23	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kings XI Punjab	Bangalore	8pm
April 24	Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Mumbai	8pm
April 25	Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab	Chennai	4pm
April 25	Delhi Daredevils vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Delhi	8pm
April 26	Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians	Vizag	4pm
April 26	Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Jaipur	8pm
April 27	Kings XI Punjab vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Mohali	8pm
April 28	Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils	Mumbai	8pm
April 29	Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Chennai	4pm
April 29	Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals	Mohali	8pm
April 30	Deccan Chargers vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Vizag	8pm
May 1	Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils	Chennai	8pm
May 2	Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers	Mumbai	4pm
May 2	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals	Kolkata	8pm
May 3	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Delhi Daredevils	Bangalore	4pm
May 3	Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings	Mohali	8pm
May 4	Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals	Hyderabad	8pm
May 5	Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings	Delhi	8pm
May 6	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians	Kolkata	4pm
May 6	Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab	Jaipur	8pm
May 7	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers	Bangalore	8pm
May 8	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings	Kolkata	8pm
May 9	Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils	Mohali	4pm
May 9	Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians	Jaipur	8pm
May 10	Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Hyderabad	8pm
May 11	Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals	Delhi	8pm
May 12	Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab	Mumbai	4pm
May 12	Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers	Chennai	8pm
May 13	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Kolkata	8pm
May 14	Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings	Jaipur	4pm
May 14	Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers	Delhi	8pm
May 15	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Mumbai Indians	Bangalore	8pm
May 16	Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Delhi	4pm
May 16	Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab	Hyderabad	8pm
May 17	Rajasthan Royals vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Jaipur	4pm
May 17	Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians	Chennai	8pm
May 18	Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Mohali	8pm
May 19	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Chennai Super Kings	Bangalore	8pm
May 21	Semi-Final 1	Chennai	8pm
May 22	Semi-Final 2	Chennai	8pm
May 24	FINAL	Mumbai	8pm