Delhi Daredevils to face KKR in IPL 6 opener on April 3

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders will open their campaign at home against last year's semi-finalist Delhi Daredevils in the inaugural match of the Pepsi Indian Premier League 6 at the Eden Gardens on April 3.

The 2013 season's lung opener could not have been any better, as two of the strongest teams in the tournament will set the tone for the high-octane Twenty20 tournament that will go on for eight weeks.

One of the many highlights of the sixth edition of the tournament will be the debut of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who joined the IPL fraternity in October.

They begin their IPL innings with a home game against Pune Warriors India, on April 5.

The tournament will be played in the same format as the 2012 edition. Each of the nine participating teams will play the other eight twice -- home and away. The top four teams at the end of the round-robin stage, on May 19, will qualify for the play-offs.

The Qualifier 1 and Eliminator games will be played at the M A Chidambaram stadium, Chennai, the home ground of the IPL 2012 runners-up, on May 21 and May 22 respectively.

The Qualifier 2 encounter and the final will be played at the Eden Gardens, the home ground of the 2012 edition winners, on May 24 and 26 respectively.

As many as eleven venues have been confirmed to host the matches. The nine home venues apart, matches will be played at two arenas that will be making their ODI debuts in January.

The last two 'home' games of Kings XI Punjab will be played at the HPCA stadium, Dharamsala, which has hosted seven IPL matches since 2010.

The Jharkhand State Cricket Association International stadium Complex at Ranchi will host the last two 'home' games of the Kolkata Knight Riders.