Johannesburg to host IPL final on May 24

All eight IPL franchises will play at least half their matches in Durban, Cape Town and Centurion, where they hope to have significant crowd support from the sizeable Indian-origin population, according to the official tournament schedule that was released on Friday night.

The opening double-header in Cape Town on April 18 - Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals v Bangalore Royal Challengers - will feature at least nine South African players, including Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, in a calculated attempt to spark local interest in what is essentially an Indian domestic event.

JP Duminy will take the field for Mumbai against Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel. On the same day, Smith, Morne Morkel and Tyron Henderson will play for Rajasthan against Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn for Bangalore.

The opening day will also showcase two England stars who will make their IPL debuts, Kevin Pietersen, who was bought by Bangalore for US$ 1.55 million, and Andrew Flintoff, who was signed for the same amount by Chennai.

According to the schedule, Cape Town hosts a chunk of the matches in the beginning of the tournament till April 26 when the action shifts to the Supersport Park and other venues. The matches in Durban, the main venue, run through the whole tournament from April 21 to May 20. The final is being held on May 24 in Johannesburg, which also hosts one of the semi-finals the day before

Kingsmead in Durban, which has a sizeable Indian-origin population, was allocated 16 matches, the highest among the eight venues, while Supersport Park in Centurion will host 12 games. The Wanderers and Newlands will stage eight matches each, while St George's Park in Port Elizabeth and Buffalo Park in East London were given seven and three matches respectively. Two matches each were handed to the Outsurance Oval in Bloemfontein and three to the De Beers Oval in Kimberley.

Kings XI Punjab play 10 of their 14 matches, the maximum among the eight franchises, at the three venues in demand, followed by Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Bangalore Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings (9), Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians (8), and Delhi Daredevils (7).

The matches will be held at 12.30 pm and 4.30 pm local time (4.00pm and 8.00pm IST; 10.30am and 2.30pm GMT ).

Fixtures

April 2009
Sat 18 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	1st match - Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians Newlands, Cape Town
Sat 18 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	2nd match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals Newlands, Cape Town
Sun 19 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	3rd match - Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab Newlands, Cape Town
Sun 19 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	4th match - Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders Newlands, Cape Town
Mon 20 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	5th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Tue 21 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	6th match - Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders Kingsmead, Durban
Tue 21 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	7th match - Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians Kingsmead, Durban
Wed 22 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	8th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers Newlands, Cape Town
Thu 23 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	9th match - Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils Kingsmead, Durban
Thu 23 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	10th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals Newlands, Cape Town
Fri 24 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	11th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab Kingsmead, Durban
Sat 25 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	12th match - Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians Kingsmead, Durban
Sat 25 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	13th match - Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders Newlands, Cape Town
Sun 26 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	14th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Sun 26 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	15th match - Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals Newlands, Cape Town
Mon 27 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	16th match - Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings Kingsmead, Durban
Mon 27 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	17th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Tue 28 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	18th match - Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals SuperSport Park, Centurion
Wed 29 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	19th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kolkata Knight Riders Kingsmead, Durban
Wed 29 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	20th match - Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians Kingsmead, Durban
Thu 30 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	21st match - Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers SuperSport Park, Centurion
Thu 30 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	22nd match - Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals SuperSport Park, Centurion
May 2009
Fri 1 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	23rd match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians Buffalo Park, East London
Fri 1 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	24th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab Kingsmead, Durban
Sat 2 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	25th match - Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Sat 2 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	26th match - Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun 3 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	27th match - Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Sun 3 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	28th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Mon 4 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	29th match - Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers Buffalo Park, East London
Tue 5 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	30th match - Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals Kingsmead, Durban
Tue 5 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	31st match - Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders Kingsmead, Durban
Wed 6 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	32nd match - Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians SuperSport Park, Centurion
Thu 7 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	33rd match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals SuperSport Park, Centurion
Thu 7 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	34th match - Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab SuperSport Park, Centurion
Fri 8 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	35th match - Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians Buffalo Park, East London
Sat 9 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	36th match - Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley
Sat 9 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	37th match - Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley
Sun 10 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	38th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Sun 10 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	39th match - Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Mon 11 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	40th match - Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley
Tue 12 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	41st match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kolkata Knight Riders SuperSport Park, Centurion
Tue 12 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	42nd match - Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians SuperSport Park, Centurion
Wed 13 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	43rd match - Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils Kingsmead, Durban
Thu 14 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	44th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings Kingsmead, Durban
Thu 14 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	45th match - Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals Kingsmead, Durban
Fri 15 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	46th match - Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab OUTsurance Oval, Bloemfontein
Sat 16 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	47th match - Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Sat 16 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	48th match - Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun 17 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	49th match - Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun 17 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	50th match - Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals OUTsurance Oval, Bloemfontein
Mon 18 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	51st match - Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders SuperSport Park, Centurion
Tue 19 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	52nd match - Delhi Daredevils v Bangalore Royal Challengers New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Wed 20 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	53rd match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals Kingsmead, Durban
Wed 20 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	54th match - Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab Kingsmead, Durban
Thu 21 12:30 local, 10:30 GMT	55th match - Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians SuperSport Park, Centurion
Thu 21 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	56th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers SuperSport Park, Centurion
Fri 22 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC SuperSport Park, Centurion
Sat 23 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun 24 16:30 local, 14:30 GMT	Final - TBC v TBC New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg