The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has all but decided to host the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in India. With the COVID-19 situation threatening the board’s plans to host the cash-rich tournament in India for the third year in a row, the waning third wave has given the officials much-needed confidence to pull it off in the host nation.
The BCCI is contemplating hosting the tournament at four venues in Maharashtra (league stage), followed by the playoffs in Ahmedabad. The Wankhede Stadium, the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the Maharashtra Cricket Association in Pune are set to host the league stage, which is going to feature 70 matches with two new teams entering the league from the 2022 edition. While the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will get four playoff matches to host.
“As of now, the Board is mulling organising the league stage in Maharashtra, and the playoffs in Ahmedabad,” a source said.
While the venues are more or less finalised, the report mentioned that the board is also trying to have at least 25 percent crowd in the stadiums keeping in mind the COVID-19 situation in the state of Maharashtra. If the cases in Mumbai and Pune remain on the lower side, the cash-rich league could see fans throng the grounds.
“If the number of positive cases aren’t high around that time, the state government authorities are likely to allow around 25% capacity crowds for this year’s IPL,” a Maharashtra government politician said.
The 2022 edition of the IPL is set to begin in the last week of March and is set to go on for a period of two months with the two-day mega auction set to take place on February 12 and 13.
