The Indian Premier League (IPL) has officially moved to the UAE, the franchises have flown out and settled in their bases, observing the mandatory six-day quarantine period before beginning outdoor practice.
The schedule for the tournament, however, is not out yet.
MI skipper Rohit Sharma had congratulated MS Dhoni on his retirement and mentioned looking forward to meeting him at the toss on September 19 and speculations are rife why there is such a delay in announcing the schedule for the tournament.
It is because keeping the pandemic in mind and staying in line with the primary policy for this year's IPL - that safety and security of every individual will remain paramount each time - BCCI is looking at the likelihood of putting "dynamic scheduling in place".
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There is also the problem of foreign players from Australia and England arriving in UAE around September 17 or 18, following which a week's quarantine will come into effect. This leaves certain franchises without their core players.
"So there is a possibility that matches in those first three or four days can be allotted to teams not majorly dependent on players flying over from the UK," Times of India sources said.
After this, there is a possibility of a player testing positive for Coronavirus during the tournament. This means the said player will have to go into quarantine for 14 days, but it will also result in his teammates - or those sharing the same bio bubble - go into quarantine for the six-day mandatory period and once again go through the three mandatory PCR tests.
"If that happens, can that team play on those six days? Possibly not. But the tournament will go on, so it's necessary to work on the possibility of keeping a schedule flexible enough where matches can be brought forward and delayed, as and when necessary," they added.
The second week of the IPL is considered most essential for the tournament every year chiefly from the lookout of keeping viewers glued.
"A thorough build-up to the IPL every year often results in the first week of the tournament being a hit and obviously getting lapped up by the viewers. The second week becomes important because the emphasis then is to ensure the same kind of enthusiasm remains because from the third week onwards, teams are already starting to battle for the playoffs and the points table becomes a talking point. So, structuring the second week of the tournament while keeping flexibility in mind is necessary," BCCI sources said.
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The organizers expect the schedule to be out anytime this week. Only after the schedule is released will the match-officials, television crews, commentators and analysts start planning their trip. UAE is also relatively hot until early October.
"The first schedule was prepared early this year keeping the March-April-May window in mind, but now with the change in destination and the months, there's an effort to try and schedule as many double-headers from the second week of October onwards so that the afternoon matches are played in better temperatures," say those in the know.
(Times of India inputs)
