Mumbai, Feb 17 (IANS): The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held from March 31, starting off with a blockbuster clash between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad at Narendra Modi Stadium as a total of 70 league stage matches will be played over 52 days.

After staging IPL across Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad in the last edition in 2022, the 16th season of India's cash-rich T20 league will revert to the home and away format, where all the teams will play 7 home games and 7 away games respectively in the league stage.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced the schedule of the 16th season of the marquee event, which will be played across 12 venues.

The first double-header day of the season will be on April 1 on which Punjab Kings will square off against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali and Lucknow Super Giants will take on Delhi Capitals in Lucknow, the BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah informed in a release on Friday.

The TATA IPL 2023 will have 18 double-headers, with the day games starting at 3:30 PM IST and the evening games starting at 07:30 PM IST.

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians will open their campaign in an away match at Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 2. Rohit Sharma's team will play its first home match against archrival Chennai Super Kings on April 8.

Rajasthan Royals will play their first two home games in Guwahati before playing the remainder of their home games in Jaipur. Punjab Kings will play their five home matches in Mohali and then, play their last two home matches in Dharamshala against Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals respectively.

The schedule and venues for the Playoffs and Final will be announced later. The summit clash of the IPL 2023 will be played on May 28, 2023.