Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly while talking about if crowds will be allowed into the stadiums for IPL 2021 said that there’s no clarity and the board will be monitoring the Covid-19 situation in the country.
BCCI on Sunday announced the schedule for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, to be played across 6 cities in India, and Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad will host the playoffs and the final of the tournament.
However, there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether crowds will be allowed into the stadiums. But with the rise of COVID-19 cases in a few states, it seems that the participation of crowds is in jeopardy.
While talking about the same BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that inclusion of crowds in stadiums depends on the situation at the time and added that IPL 2020 was played behind closed doors in UAE and it went well as a result of which board decided to not take a risk by throwing it open to the public.
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“We don't know yet, it depends on the situation. (Last time in) Dubai also it was the same. We started closed doors and we expected it to open up to the crowds, but since it went so well, we did not take the risk of bringing the crowds back,” Sourav Ganguly told India Today.
In the recently concluded Test series between India and England, BCCI had allowed 50 percent crowds in the last three Tests and the T20I series between the nations which will be played in Ahmedabad will also see a 50% crowd in attendance.
Addressing the same Sourav Ganguly while comparing the bilateral series and tournament said that logistics are slightly different for a bilateral event.
“Slightly different than a bilateral, because you know when if you open up to crowds and the team is playing in the middle, it will be practicing outside as well. A lot of these stadiums have to practise pitches outside the ground, so the teams also practice there.
So to open it up to crowds you also expect the crowds to get closer to the practicing teams. So it could be a bit of a risk,” he said.
IPL 2021 will kick start from 9th April with a high octane clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chennai.
(India Today inputs)
