In the recently held SGM, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between September and October.
The fourteenth season of the cash-rich league was postponed in the first week of May after the COVID-19 breach in the bio-bubble of various franchises.
Before the tournament resumes, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has revealed the reason behind moving the remainder of the IPL 2021 from India to the UAE. Shah said the call was taken due to weather restrictions.
“See, we took this decision to conduct IPL in the UAE because it will be monsoon here and it will not be feasible to hold matches here in September, and that is why we are taking IPL to the UAE,” Shah told ANI.
“We are moving IPL to the UAE only due to weather restrictions as we cannot hold IPL here at the time of monsoon. How can we hold IPL in September in Mumbai or Ahmedabad, or any other venues at the time of monsoon? It doesn’t make any sense”, he added.
Further, BCCI did not decide on the fate of the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in India later this year. Since the country is facing a COVID-19 outbreak, there is a possibility that the global showpiece event won’t take place in India and in that situation, UAE looks like a strong candidate to stage the mega tournament.
Shah said that the final decision regarding the T20 World Cup would be taken after a discussion with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“And as far as the T20 World Cup is concerned, we will seek time from ICC and decide later. As of now, we are in the mind frame of holding tournaments in the safe zone, and we will see how the situation is in the upcoming days. The only thing I can say for now is to seek time from ICC and decide accordingly,” concluded Shah.
