The upcoming series against England between October 2020 and February 2021, should see international cricket return back to India as per a senior BCCI official. The India-England series which was planned to be played in India now seems tough with the country’s growing concerns over coronavirus. The BCCI, therefore, selected the UAE as an alternate venue.
However, in a recent interaction with Asian News International (ANI), a senior BCCI official said that the series against England might take place in India. Incidentally, BCCI had to organise IPL in the UAE due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
India to play England at home
But the official is hopeful to host the bilateral series with the government easing out some restrictions in place.
“The current situation saw us push the IPL to UAE after getting permission from the Indian government. We have been in constant touch with the authorities and have been abiding by the rules and various advisories as the world look to fight the pandemic.
The advisories at the time of planning for this IPL season had more stringent restrictions in place. However, we are hopeful of conducting the England series in India itself now that the restrictions have eased and we are working with our partners to have a bio-secure bubble in place. We would therefore see a cricketing action restart in our country” the official said.
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“It may still be a while before the spectators could return to watch live action but it will obviously happen in due course,” he further added.
Meanwhile highlighting on the MOU signed between BCCI and the ECB, the senior official said “It is not the first time that we have worked with the Emirates Cricket Board. They always make us feel at home. They have been excellent and the professionalism that we have seen is something ECB should be proud of but it is not surprising with the dynamic Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan’s watch.
It is not easy to host a tournament like the IPL in these circumstances with not just so many players, but so much happening in the backroom as well. While ECB and we would definitely look to work together for the growth of the game, the England series is likely to happen in India.”
UAE like to host India series against England
The BCCI had earlier signed an MOU with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) where it was decided that UAE will be the venue for the series against England.
“I along with vice-chairman of the ECB, Mr Khalid Al Zarooni, signed an MoU and hosting agreement between [the BCCI] and [ECB], to boost cricketing ties between our countries,” Shah wrote on social media.
Meanwhile, BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly had already committed of making the series possible in August already where he said “The senior Indian men’s team will travel to Australia in December this year and will come back to the country for a series against England starting from February next year”.
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