IPL 2021 is set to resume on 19 September, with the remainder of this year's tournament taking place in the UAE. The first game of the restart will be between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings at Dubai.
All IPL 2021 games were broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK, Disney+ Hotstar in India and Willow TV in the US, and it's highly unlikely that broadcasters will change when the tournament resumes in September.
The tournament which began in April in India came to an abrupt halt - with 31 matches remaining - in early May after an increasing number of coronavirus cases both in the country and within team contingents. The decision to move IPL 2021 to the UAE was taken mainly because of the monsoon season in India that can run until October in some parts of the country.
India will be involved in a five-Test series with England in the UK that gets over 14 September. All players involved in the IPL will fly directly from the UK to a biosecure bubble in the UAE to link up with their IPL squads. The IPL 2021 Final is scheduled to be played on 15 October 2021, just two days before the start of the T20 World Cup, which also takes place in the UAE, and Oman.
Last year, Mumbai Indians won the IPL for a record fifth time, retaining them as the most successful franchise in the history of the tournament. While they are in fourth place this year, the defending champions might be happy to know that the tournament is being moved to the UAE, the same venue as last year.
IPL 2021 Restart Fixtures
IPL 2021 Standings
English players playing in IPL 2021
Sam Curran (Chennai Super Kings)
Moeen Ali (Chennai Super Kings)
Jason Roy (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
Jonny Bairstow (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
Eoin Morgan (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Jos Butler (Rajasthan Royals)
Chris Woakes (Delhi Capitals)
Sam Billings (Delhi Capitals)
Tom Curran (Delhi Capitals)
Chris Jordan (Punjab Kings)
Dawid Malan (Punjab Kings)
How to watch the IPL 2021 in the UK: Sky Sports and Now Sports Membership
Last year, Sky Sports signed a three-year contract with the IPL to broadcast the tournament until 2022, which means that you'll need to have a Sky Sports package to watch this year's tournament. Sky Sports customers can stream live content on any of their devices.
The best way to stream all IPL 2021 games without committing to a Sky TV contract is to get a Now Sports Membership. You can instantly purchase a pass and start streaming live content to any of your devices. Upgrading to Now Boost (an additional £3/mnth) upgrades your viewing experience from 720p to Full HD and lets you stream content on three devices simultaneously instead of the default two.
Get Sky Sports Get Now Sports Membership
How to watch IPL 2021 in India: Disney+ Hotstar
Hotstar is a popular digital and mobile entertainment platform launched in 2015 by Star India, the largest Indian broadcasting network. In 2018, the Walt Disney Company purchased 21st Century Fox for $71billion, thereby making the Hotstar - owned by Star India - part of the wider Disney umbrella. Now going under the banner of Disney+ Hotstar, the service has over 300 million subscribers, making it the biggest streaming service in India.
Disney Plus alone has almost 100 million subscribers worldwide, a large proportion of which comes from the Indian sub-continent because of exclusive deals that Disney+ has, especially when it comes to broadcasting original regional content and live sporting events. For INR 1,499 (under £16) a year, the Disney+ Hotstar plan lets you watch everything from live sporting events across the globe, all Disney shows and even movies and TV shows from the likes of HBO, Fox and Showtime.
Subscribe to Disney+ Hotstar
How to watch IPL 2021 in the US: Willow TV
Again, there's no official confirmation on this yet, but because Willow TV is the only US channel that broadcasts cricket 24/7 our best guess is that it'll retain the rights to broadcast this year's tournament across the US. The service has exclusive agreements with the sports' worldwide governing body (the ICC) and individual cricketing governing bodies around the world (including the IPL, ECB, BCCI and ACB) to host live cricket games. The channel is available on most satellite and cable TV networks for a monthly fee. Alternatively, it comes with most South Asian TV packages.
Get Willow TV
How to watch IPL 2021 anywhere in the world: use a good VPN service
The Indian Premier League is a long tournament, spanning over eight weeks. If you’re abroad during this time - or if you live in a country where the IPL 2021 won’t be available - then your only chance to follow the action live on the above streaming services is to use a good VPN service. Doing so will change your IP address to make it appear as if you were browsing from the country you want. You can then simply log in to your Hotstar or TV account and watch or listen to the IPL as you normally would.
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