Mumbai: The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council on Wednesday ratified the return of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab to the T20 league and the format that was approved prior to the termination of the two franchises.

Accordingly, the 2011 season will now have 74 matches with a play-off stage replacing the knock-out semi-finals ahead of the grand finale.

The teams would be divided into two groups of five each.

Each team would play: i) the other four teams in its group twice — home and away; ii) four of the five teams in the other group once — home or away; iii) the fifth team in the other group twice — home and away.