The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s plans on organizing the upcoming IPL 2022 season have been put into jeopardy thanks to the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic affected by the Omicron variant. The IPL 15 will see 10 teams participating in the tournament for the second time in IPL history.

On Thursday, January 6, the country recorded over one lakh cases in a single day, with the third wave gaining momentum and this has led the BCCI to rethink its strategy of holding the IPL 2022 in India.

To be noted, the IPL 2021 was also held in India but had to be postponed mid-season due to the second wave of the pandemic led by the Delta variant. The second half of the tournament was then played in UAE in September, with CSK winning their fourth IPL title.

The IPL 2020 was entirely played in UAE due to the pandemic causing lockdown in the country.

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As per a report in Cricbuzz, the BCCI currently has two options in front of it. First is the initial plan to have all 10 teams playing the home-away format, with the home games being held at their respective stadiums.

The second option is holding the entire tournament in the three venues in Mumbai (the Wankhede, Brabourne, and DY Patil Stadium) for the entire season for all teams.  

The board is also considering altering the start date of IPL 2022 from April 02 to March 25 in order to lessen the number of double-headers and day games that were initially planned. 

However, while all these things are in the planning stages, the final outcomes depend on the COVID situation in the upcoming two months or so. While the Omicron wave in South Africa, where it was first detected, subsided in one month, it remains to be seen whether the same thing will happen in India or not.

If things remain the same, the BCCI might also move the tournament out of the country entirely as it was done in 2020.

(Cricbuzz report)