The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday (March 7) announced the schedule and venues for the forthcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the BCCI to conduct IPL 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a bio-secure bubble last year, but the Indian board has decided to bring the T20 extravaganza home this year amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the country.
The BCCI shortlisted only six venues named Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata for the IPL 20201 to be played from April 9 to May 30.
Well, Mohali, Hyderabad, and Jaipur are among the top venues overlooked this season, though the BCCI hasn't officially confirmed the reason behind the non-selection, leaving Punjab Government upset with the decision to leave out Mohali as a potential venue for hosting the forthcoming IPL 2021.
Rising the matter, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he has written to BCCI for considering Mohali as a venue for the IPL 14, saying they are ready to take every precaution for the tournament.
The captain also slammed the BCCI for including Mumbai among the venues for IPL 14 despite the city has been reporting over 9,000 COVID-19 cases on daily basis.
Read Also: Geoffrey Boycott suggests ECB dock money if England players choose IPL over England duty
ANI tweeted as saying by Punjab CM, “I have written to them (BCCI) saying if they can have a match in Mumbai, which has had 9,000 cases per day, then what’s wrong with Mohali. We will take the necessary precautions: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on IPL excluding Mohali as match venue.”
In a press conference, he also questioned the exclusion of PCA Stadium, Mohali from IPL venues for forthcoming IPL 2021.
The Chief Minister said, “If Mumbai Stadium could be a venue with more than 10000 cases a day why should Mohali be ignored despite the state government had already assured of all arrangements to ensure strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols at Mohali.”
However, Earlier, a BCCI official had confirmed that the ongoing farmers' protests from Haryana and Punjab on the Delhi border forced the board to snub Mohali as a venue for the IPL 2021.
The BCCI official had clarified: “We don’t want a situation to arise where we have an IPL match in Mohali and a farmer agitation march moves towards the stadium. It will attract media attention from all over the world. We don’t want such a situation to arise. Mohali is not among shortlisted venues due to the current scenario in the northern part of India.”
(With ANI Inputs)
