The first match will be played between Chandigarh Lions and Ahmedabad Rockets. The ICL will be played at Panchkula, Gurgaon and Hyderabad, but Panchkula will host most of the matches.

“This time we wanted to conduct the tournament at different venues as the number of teams was increased from six to eight and also because we wanted to reach out to a wider live audience. So, we kept our eyes on the Gurgaon and the Hyderabad stadiums. But we carried out work at these stadiums just a few days ago, as we got the permission little late. Also, the floodlights at Hyderabad gave us technical problems and we wanted to replace them to our satisfaction. This required more time so we decided to re-do the schedule and allotted more matches to Panchkula, which has quality floodlights and other facilities too,” More, on the ICL board, told Newsline.

Meanwhile, the stadium is being given final touches. Keeping in mind the huge audience following for Twenty20 cricket, ICL has built more stands and increased the seating capacity to 10,000. This time tickets will be sold in two denominations-- Rs 100 and Rs 500. The ticket of Rs 500 will be for new stand with a capacity of 600 and it is called Premium Stand.

Shariq Patel, Head Operations of Essel Group, said, “In order to provide better view of the match and the performance stage, we have come up with the idea of Premium Stand. The sale of tickets will be open from Friday afternoon and these will be available at a counter at the stadium, Gopal Sweets, Sector 8, Panchkula and Anand Sweets Sector 20, Panchkula.”

Talking about the entertainment factor during matches, Shariq said, “Besides cricket, spectators will see dancers, musicians and Bollywood stars performing on stage. Although, we have done away with the idea of carnival activities as it did not seem to be a hit with people last time. We are in negotiations with the stars for performance. Everything will be finalised in a day or two.”