The Mumbai Indians will play in the opening game of this year’s IPL

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

The 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin on April 7 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, while the final will be held at the same venue on May 27.

The Mumbai Indians, who won last year’s IPL, will feature in the opening game of the competition, but their opponents will be revealed when the match schedules are released later this week.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the IPL Governing Council confirmed that the timings of matches during this year’s event will be changed.

Afternoon matches will begin at 5.30 pm, while night games will get underway at 7pm. Until last season, the timings for the matches were 4 pm and 8 pm respectively.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Star India, who secured the global broadcasting rights for the IPL for the next five years last September, agreed to the change in timing for the matches.

“The timings were changed because the day matches were being played in peak summer-time heat,” an IPL official said. “It (5.30 pm start) is a better time.”