IPL-bound Devdutt Padikkal, Akshar Patel, and Nitish Rana have tested COVID-19 positive.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has on Sunday (April 4) made it clear that the upcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League 2021 will go ahead as per schedule despite the growing COVID-19 cases in the country.
Ganguly has also declared IPL 2021 matches – 10 games scheduled at the Wankhede Stadium will also take place in Mumbai as scheduled despite the Maharashtra government announcing a weekend lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
The BCCI President’s declaration came hours after the Maharashtra government announced new restrictions including a night curfew in the state and a “strict lockdown” over the next weekend from Friday 8 pm to Monday 7 pm after an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases.
Read Also: IPL 2021: Mohammad Azharuddin offers Hyderabad facilities for safe conducting of IPL 14
The rules decided in a Cabinet meeting on Sunday included a curfew from 8 pm to 7 am, gatherings of five or more banned throughout the day; malls, restaurants, and bars will be closed; home delivery and essential services will be allowed, but Ganguly insisted that the IPL 2021 matches will not move from Mumbai amid the strict lockdown imposed by the state government.
However, Ganguly and other BCCI officials are confident that IPL 14 matches in Mumbai can be conducted without any major issues amid the talks of shifting games to Hyderabad or Indore.
Ganguly told The Telegraph: “Everything will go on as per schedule. The IPL matches will be held in Mumbai. Once you are in a bubble nothing happens. Even in the UAE last season, there were a few such incidents in the lead-up to the event but once the tournament started everything was fine.”
The BCCI president further added, “We have got the necessary permission and assurances from the state government to conduct matches there. Mumbai will be hosting only ten matches between April 10 to 25 and there will be nothing to worry inside the bio-bubble. We are in a well-secured set-up and the players and support staff will be safe.”
BCCI Vice-president Rajeev Shukla said the Indian cricket board is thinking of IPL players' vaccination ahead of the tournament and will get in touch with the Health Ministry for the same soon.
Shukla told ANI, “To cope with this Coronavirus rise, I think the only solution is to get vaccinated. BCCI is also thinking on those lines that players should be vaccinated. Nobody knows when coronavirus is going to end and you can't give a deadline that by this time frame, it will not be there so players can play easily. So, I think now will have to think over that. Vaccination should be done for the players also.”
(With ANI/ The Telegraph Inputs)