A week before IPL 2021 was scheduled to get underway, the governing council of the league and at least four franchises proposed to BCCI that the league be held in UAE like last year to avoid any eventuality should coronavirus situation in India changes. However, the BCCI reportedly didn’t give much merit to he idea as it was confident the tournament can he held safely since they had already hosted England for a full fledged tour without any incident.
The IPL 2020 was entirely held in UAE across three venues including Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai. And it was also put on standby a week ahead of the start this year as well with Emirates Cricket Board even willing to conduct the high-profile event ‘on a short notice’.
“UAE was always the first choice of the IPL GC for this year’s tournament,” an unnamed source was quoted as claiming.
“But nobody in the BCCI showed the urgency to take the step. The officials kept waiting for each other to make the first move and eventually the proposal was shot down,” the source added.
However, the situation has indeed spiraled out of control in India with over lakh cases being reported on a daily basis for more than 10 days now. IPL has also been hit by the crisis with two cricketers and several members of support and ground staff being tested positive.
The report further quoted an unnamed franchise official as saying that the biggest flaw this year has been the travel arrangements.
“In the UAE, we were travelling to and fro our bases and were cooped up in the same hotel. There was a routine. Here, we are changing cities, we don’t know whether the pilots and flight attendants have quarantined or not, the food quality on flights, etc. The caravan idea just doesn’t work,” the official said.
