There will be no Indian Premier League (IPL) in India in 2021. The president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly, confirmed the latest development on Sunday. (More Cricket News)
The former India captain also cited examples of other leagues going around the world to defend hosting the IPL 2021 in India, which had to be suspended indefinitely after the breach of COVID-19 bubbles.
"Everything went off well until this massive and dreadful second wave of COVID came. You can imagine how difficult it has been to get cricket organised. We have the World Cup in five months. Till this pandemic remains, it is going to be some task to organise any cricket... Too early to say how we can find a slot to complete the IPL," Ganguly told Sportstar.
The 2021 edition of the lucrative T20 league was suspended earlier this week after four players -- Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Wriddhiman Saha, Delhi Capitals spinner Amit Mishra and Kolkata Knight Riders' Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier -- tested positive for COVID-19 in the bio-bubble.
"Mumbai and Chennai (legs) did not have cases. Only when the IPL reached Delhi and Ahmedabad did the cases rise. People will say a lot of things in any case," the 48-year-old added. "The English Premier League had so many people affected. But they could reschedule the matches. But you can’t do that with IPL. You stop it for seven days and it is done. Players go back home and then the process of quarantine starts from scratch."
A possible window to complete the remainder tournament is after the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final and before the start of the England series.
But Ganguly said that it's possible as "India is supposed to go to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and five T20Is. There are lots of organisational hazards like 14-day quarantine. It can’t happen in India. This quarantine is tough to handle. Too early to say how we can find a slot to complete the IPL."
