After Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants joined the IPL roster, the format of the T20 competition also changed.
The old format
When there were 8 teams in the IPL, there used to be a simple double Round Robin format in which all franchises faced the other seven teams twice each after which the top four teams in the competition qualified for the playoffs.
Now, with 10 teams, the franchises have been divided into two groups of 5 each based on a seeding system.
Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants are part of group A while Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans find themselves in group B.
The new format
Each team will play twice against the teams in their group. They will also face the corresponding team in the other group twice. For example, Rajasthan Royals are placed at the third spot in group A and Royal Challengers Bangalore are the third team in group B, the two teams will come up against each other twice.
In the previous format, every team played every other team twice each. Hence, there was not a lot of practical advantage that you could gain by being good against a particular opposition as other teams also faced them.
For example, Sunrisers Hyderabad were not at their best in IPL 2021 and almost every team which faced them defeated them. Essentially, any team could not get an extra advantage out of that clash.
However, now if a particular team is facing Sunrisers Hyderabad twice, assuming that they play to a similar level as they did in IPL 2021, that team will have a distinct advantage over another team which is facing SRH only once.
Performance w.r.t conditions
IPL 2022 will also be different from the last couple of seasons in terms of the biosecurity bubble as a central bubble is being created this time around, with all the matches set to be played in Maharashtra.
This brings another angle into the mix that is the performance of a particular team in a given set of conditions. For instance, the Wankhede Stadium will assist teams which have bowlers conducive to pace and bounce and batters who like their pulls and cuts.
There will also be a few more double headers which can take a toll on the teams physically as well.
