BCCI’s interim CEO Hemang Amin, also the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the IPL has prepared two different schedules for IPL to be played in the UAE and the UK. However, he preferably wants the remainder of the IPL 2021 season to b played in the UAE and has given very logical reasons for the same. The IPL 2021 season hosted in the UAE was a great success amid the pandemic with no reports of bio-bubble breach.
Meanwhile, the IPL 2021 staged in India turned out to be very risky with COVID cases increasing every day. Within that bio-bubble breach and players testing positive meant that the season was suspended by the BCCI. Now they are looking to get a window in September to close out the season.
While Amin now has two schedules ready as choices to present in the run-up to the SGM, TOI understands that the interim CEO has asked the Board to keep UAE as the preferred option. And for that, he is learnt to have shared some “very logical reasons”.
BCCI CEO Hemang Amin’s Suggestions To Hold Remaining IPL Games In The UAE
A) Shifting to the UK will be a risky proposition because starting mid-September, the possibility of monsoon returning post the English summer is reasonably higher. By October, rain is incessant and that will also mean relatively colder weather. Will the BCCI – having paid hosting fees to the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to conduct the IPL there – take the risk of matches getting washed away and once again receive flak? In contrast, the weather in UAE is hot in September but begins to cool down by the end of the month, as the IPL witnessed first-hand last year.
B) Hosting the tournament in the UK will mean relatively higher costs – spending in Pounds, vis-à-vis spending in Dirhams (UAE). While the BCCI can ask franchises to make up for the costs by keeping the gate money – because crowds will be allowed at grounds in England – England will still be a costlier proposition.
C) The UAE is a tried and tested venue, with a quarter of the IPL matches being hosted there in 2014 and the entire edition in 2020. The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), which laid down a red carpet for the BCCI to come and play in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, is once again requesting they be allowed to do so. The franchises and the BCCI know their way around.
Meanwhile, the IPL franchisees have also agreed to Amin’s suggestion of hosting the remaining games in the UAE. Meanwhile, the BCCI will take a final decision on the same in the Board’s Special General Meeting (SGM) on May 29.
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