IPL News: The bullets are now being shot at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the suspension of the Indian Premier League (IPL) due to multiple Covid-19 cases reported in more than one franchise. After the news of Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier from the Kolkata Knight Riders camp, Amit Mishra from Delhi Capitals, Wriddhiman Saha from Sunrisers Hyderabad and 2 non-playing members from the Chennai camp having tested positive for Covid-19, IPL franchises bio-secure bubbles have come under the scanner.
When will IPL restart?
During a recent interview, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly opened up on the reasons for the suspension of the IPL 2021 season. Ganguly mentioned that the BCCI has confirmed that there was absolutely no breach of the bio-bubble. However, he also stated that it is really tough to actually find out how the virus entered the team bio-bubbles. Ganguly said that they will now have to look for a possible window and speak to the other boards before finalizing anything about the resumption of IPL.
“There has got to be a lot of shuffling. Only a day has passed since we suspended the IPL. We have to speak to other boards and see if a window can be made available before the T20 World Cup. Lot of things are involved and we will slowly start working on them. If we fail to complete the IPL, the loss will be close to INR 2500 crore (USD 340 million approx). That is going by early estimates,” said BCCI President Sourav Ganguly in a recent interview.
“I don’t think so. The report we got is that there’s no breach of the bubble. How it happened is very difficult to say. How so many people are getting (infected) in the country is also very difficult to say,” he added.
Related: BCCI shortlists three potential venues to resume IPL
New IPL Venue?
On being asked whether it was discussed within the BCCI to organise the IPL in UAE, Ganguly noted that the idea was surely discussed but with the Covid-19 situation neutralized to a great extent back in February, India was finalized as the venue. However, the covid situation in India worsened dramatically in the last three weeks.
“It was discussed, but the (COVID-19 cases) in India in February was (virtually) nothing. It has just gone through the roof in the last three weeks. Before that it was nothing. We discussed about the UAE but then decided to do it in India,” Ganguly added.
“As I said, when we decided all this, there was no (Covid spike) in India. So it’s very easy to say now, but when this tournament was organised, Covid numbers (in India) were nothing. We started with Mumbai and finished there without any case. And Mumbai was very high (number of active Covid cases) then,” the BCCI president further added on the idea of organising IPL in six different states.
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