BCCI has moved IPL 2021 remainder to UAE due to “monsoon rains”. Here is BCCI President Sourav Ganguly (centre) and its Secretary Jay Shah (left) giving away last year’s winner’s trophy to Rohit Sharma[/caption]
* Says “monsoon rain”, not Covid-19, caused them to move IPL to UAE
* With the IPL, T20 World Cup too likely to be moved to UAE
* Leading Test countries expressed reluctance over playing World Cup in India
By Revatha S. Silva
How the dates are crammed
Here is sequence of important dates leading to the World Cup. These show the only time period available for the remainder of the IPL 2021 to be completed is between 20 Sep. to 15 Oct. (26 days), that too most likely without the participation of its England players.
4 Aug: England vs. India five-match Test series begins in England. It will go on till 14 Sep.
24 Aug: West Indies international home series against South Africa, Australia, and Pakistan come to an end
28 Aug: The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is scheduled to start at St. Kitts and Nevis
14 Sep: The five-match England vs. India Test series ends in England
19 Sep: CPL is to end in the West Indies (many West Indian players and coaching staff of the IPL are involved in CPL)
21 Sep: England starts their white-ball tours to both Bangladesh and Pakistan which will go on till mid October (more than 12 England players are involved in the IPL)
16-20 Oct: Start of the 7th ICC T20 World Cup (India is the official host)
14 Nov: The final of the T20 World Cup to be played
Finding window for IPL
After confirming yesterday (29) that the IPL 2021’s remainder is to be moved to UAE, there are several hurdles that the BCCI still faces in finding a window for the franchise event, between the end of their England Test series (14 Sep.) and the start of the 7th ICC T20 World Cup (16-20 Oct).
# As we see in the other info box here, the only window available for the remainder of the IPL 2021 is between 20 Sep. to 15 Oct. (26 days)
# At the time the IPL 2021 was suspended on 4 May, there were still 31 matches, including the four playoffs, were left to be played
# So, having 31 matches within less than 26 days means that there will be about ten double-headers (two matches on a single day) in UAE this time
# Therefore, will the BCCI seek to alter the schedules of their England Test series, England’s subsequent white-ball assignments abroad, and the CPL so as to find at least a 14-day window during the 26-day period between 20 Sep. and 15 Oct.?
# The BCCI has already opened a dialogue with the CPL to try and convince them to tweak the league’s schedule so that the West Indies players could move between the bio-secure bubbles in St. Kitts (the CPL venue) and the UAE (IPL venue) in time
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced yesterday (29) that it will conduct the remainder of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) in September and October this year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“The BCCI on Saturday (yesterday) announced to complete the remaining matches of IPL 2021 season in the UAE considering the monsoon season in India in the months of September-October this year,” the BCCI said in a release following a much-anticipated Special General Meeting (SGM).
Yet anyone who stumbles across foreign news nowadays would not buy into the idea that it’s the seasonal “monsoon rains” that caused BCCI to move the IPL from India to UAE.
Even early this month India was recording over 400,000 daily cases of Covid-19 with the number of deaths still standing at over 3,500. The tragic number on Friday (28) alone stood at 3,617.
Why is India quite blatantly bluffing about its real obstacles to hold the IPL in India itself?
Decision affecting World Cup
One possible reason is that shifting the IPL away from India could make it clear that they are unable to stage the World Cup which is due in India in October-November this year. Their current argument is that there is “monsoon rain” in the September-October window yet they are still willing to hold the World Cup in the October-November window as it is scheduled now.
“The decision (to move the IPL to UAE) was taken at a SGM held virtually where members unanimously agreed to resume IPL. The BCCI SGM further authorised the office-bearers to seek an extension of time from the ICC to take an appropriate call on the hosting of ICC T20 World Cup 2021,” the BCCI added in their media release yesterday.
Leading countries show reluctance
Anyway, it can be confidently said that at least four leading ICC member countries, who have always maintained close ties with India in recent times, have already shown their reluctance to take part in the World Cup in India this year. The reason is not “monsoon rains” but the staggering Covid-19 second wave in the country which has even cost over 700 lives of Indian doctors alone while putting the entire country in an alarming situation that has been something unheard of probably since World War II.
But, interestingly, India’s clout in world cricket is still looking unabated going by the way the Indian Premier League is dominating the game’s intricate political and economic spheres at present.
Unavoidable Indian clout
All big names in big cricketing countries are playing in the IPL every year while not a single big name of Indian cricket is allowed to play in any other league outside their country. Last year, as the pandemic cramped all international schedules, the ICC obviously gave prominence to the IPL, a national T20 league, even over the T20 2020 World Cup, the global flagship event of the format. The IPL 2020 was moved from India to UAE last time, during almost the same window where Australia was to stage the 2020 T20 World Cup. What else?
No wonder this time too, if the ICC “amicably and favourably” sort out issues with the BCCI to find a suitable window to squeeze the IPL in, that too at any cost.