The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is running against the time to finalize the date and venues for the forthcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
It was earlier reported that the Indian cricket board was mulling over hosting the IPL 2021 in one city in India due to the logistical issues and creating bio-bubbles for the tournament brought by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in place to the sport go ahead in the current time.
However, now BCCI is reportedly exploring the option of staging the IPL 14 across four to five cities with the senior officials of the board discussing the idea, while the final decision regarding the venues is likely to take in the IPL Governing Council (IPL GC) meeting in the first week of March.
The BCCI official said: “We are exploring the possibility of conducting the IPL at more venues than originally planned. The intent is to take it to more fans as the situation is moving towards normalcy. The feasibility of the bio-secure bubble and logistics will of course be crucial to determine the venues finally. It is a fluid situation and the health of the participants is our primary concern.”
Meanwhile, the IPL franchises are keen to have the tournament in more than one city in order to stay flexible keeping in mind the spike in the COVID-19 cases in some parts of the country.
An IPL franchise official said: “See, there is still some time left for the league to get underway, but we are more than keen to play the league across a few cities. The worry with hosting it in one city is that the COVID-19 situation is constantly changing.
So, if by chance one of the cities picked sees a situation where it gets difficult to host the games, another city can go ahead and logistically it will be easier for the board and the franchises.”
Noteworthy, the discussed cities are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad among others.
(With ANI Inputs)
