According to recent reports, the BCCI is planning to conduct a camp for all the contracted players in the UAE. The cricket board wants to assess the fitness of the players before the next edition of IPL begins later this year.
Meanwhile, the camp cannot take place in India due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the country. The Sourav Ganguly-led body will look to conduct it in the UAE as the UAE national team have already begun training in the ICC Academy in Dubai.
The BCCI is also planning to conduct the IPL in the UAE which was suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report in The New Indian Express, the Indian team management wants to conduct a 6-week training camp in Dubai before the start of any series.
The UAE has recorded close to 55,000 cases since the start of the pandemic. But they have a greater recovery than most other countries and have also recently opened doors for tourism as well.
A source in the BCCI was quoted saying that the camp will most likely be conducted in the UAE. Also, it is looking at conducting the cash-rich IPL in the UAE unless the situation in Mumbai doesn’t improve.
“By the looks of it, UAE will mostly host the IPL. Unless the situation improves dramatically in Mumbai. The camp there makes more sense in every way possible. Once the IPL venue is decided, then we can expect things to move forward quickly,” quoted by a BCCI official.
On the other hand, the IPL franchise owners also want its players to participate in their camps before the IPL. Here, the only constraint for the BCCI is time and how it’s going to accommodate contracted players at the same time for camp. As the franchise wants its players to join a camp three weeks prior to the start of the IPL.
Owing to the current lockdown restrictions in the country it has made things difficult for the BCCI. Contracted players like Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane are unable to train outdoors as they are residing in Mumbai. Where they’ve recorded over 200,000 cases since March.
