IPL franchise Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) co-owner Ness Wadia has opined that the BCCI should not have crowds for the initial part of the upcoming IPL 2021 to be held in India, seeing a surge in cases in certain parts of the country.

Wadia also questioned BCCI’s decision to not shortlist PBKS home ground on Mohali as one of the venues of the IPL 2021.

Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai have been shortlisted as potential venues but the BCCI is yet to take a final call on the matter. Mumbai was in the mix too but a spike in COVID cases means that IPL games are unlikely to be held there.

“We have written to the BCCI to find out under what criteria they have selected the venues and why they have not selected us. We were hoping to have games in Punjab. Some of the teams will not have home advantage, those are the concerns. The cases in Chandigarh and Mohali are not that much, I don’t know on what basis they have shortlisted the venues,” Wadia told PTI.

IPL 2021: Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh urges BCCI to consider Mohali as a venue for IPL

Meanwhile, the IPL 2020 was played behind closed doors across three venues in UAE, while the ongoing India-England series is seeing a limited crowd in the stadiums.

Wadia feels IPL is a much tougher challenge logistically compared to a bilateral series and crowds can be avoided at least initially due to safety concerns.

“I think it would better to have no crowd initially and then evaluate the COVID-19 situation as the event progresses. There is no question that the IPL is tougher to organise than a bilateral series. We want whatever is best and safe for the players and the bio-bubble.

We are disappointed (not being one of the venues) and I am sure our fans will be too. We have heard on this from BCCI verbally but there is no written communication yet. We would like to know their venue selection criteria,” he added.

(PTI inputs)