Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Punjab Kings (PBKS) co-owner Ness Wadia says that BCCI's decision to host IPL 2021 in India amid COVID-19 was the ‘right call’ before the situation deteriorated quickly.
The 14th edition of the Indian premier league was suspended with immediate effect due to the growing number of Covid-19 cases within the tournament's bio-secure bubble.
The cash-rich league was postponed after 29 games and with 31 matches still left BCCI is considering the September window to host the remaining part of IPL 14.
Addressing the media PBKS, co-owner Ness Wadia said that it was the right decision to call off the IPL, considering the ongoing situation. He added that BCCI took the right call to hold the tournament in India but unfortunately situation deteriorated.
“Best decision has been taken given the circumstances. Lot of people are suffering in India. Due diligence was done before the IPL but no one is perfect. The right call was taken to hold it in India ahead of the World Cup it is just unfortunate that the situation deteriorated so quickly,” Ness Wadia told PTI.
Wadia suggested that ground staff should be a part of bio bubbles going forward. He also feels that the change of host country wouldn't have alteted the end-outcome for the tournament.
“If the ground staff wasn’t part of the whole bubble then that needs to be fixed. Also cutting down the venues also need to be considered forward to reduce the risk. I don’t think this has got anything to do in a specific country (India or UAE) that would have made a difference. Everyone tried their best sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t,” he said.
Wadia lauded Indian players for playing non-stop cricket in staying in bubbles and not complaining like foreign players.
“Hats off to the Indian players who have been playing non-stop in bubbles and not complained unlike some of the foreign players,” he said.
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Wadia while talking about Adam Zampa, who opted out of the IPL early, said that the players who pulled out should study the fact that cases were fewer when the tournament started. He further lashed out at players for not complaining when the same thing happened during the Australian Open.
“With due respect to the international cricketers including Zampa, the situation was very different a month ago. They should study the fact that cases were very less when we started before commenting on it.
“It happened during the Australia Open they shut the city down when it was happening. People didn’t complain then, why now,” he concluded.
Varun Chakravarthy, Sandeep Warrier, Wriddhiman Saha, and Amit Mishra are the players who tested positive for the coronavirus.
(PTI inputs)
