NEWS
Follow UsThe president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Sourav Ganguly believes that conducting the Indian Premier League in India this year wasn't a mistake and the former India captain is still not sure about how so many individuals were infected inside the bio-security bubble. Many players and staff members testes positive for COVID-19, which eventually forced the BCCI to suspend IPL 2021 indefinitely.
"I really don’t know what led to this situation inside the bio-security bubble. We will have to do a post-mortem and look into the reasons behind this. But travelling could have been an issue," Ganguly told Telegraph India.
"Last year in the UAE, everything was restricted to three venues and within a limited area. There was no air travel involved. Here we had six different venues. You also have to look at the situation around the country. The way the number of people are getting affected on a daily basis is total madness. No one knows what is going to happen tomorrow. Things have gone out of control for everyone."
Many believe that it would have been ideal if the IPL was oraganised in the UAE just like last year but Ganguly said that the situation was way better in India when the decision was made. "It was discussed, but the (COVID-19 cases) in India in February was (virtually) nothing. It has just gone through the roof in the last three weeks. Before that it was nothing. We discussed about the UAE but then decided to do it in India. We did the England tour successfully," he told Indian Express.
Ganguly also revealed that it's too early to decide on a window and the venue where the remainder of IPL 2021 could be conducted. "Let’s see what happens to the World T20. There’s still some time left and we don’t know how things will pan out a month later... Can’t comment right now. But let’s not assume things,” he said.
Unlike in the UAE, the BCCI didn’t appoint UK-based company Restrata to take charge of the bubble. "We discussed their name, but they don’t have a big presence in India, that was the problem. So we went with others. They are all professional hands. Professional hands around the world can’t control it (virus penetrating the bubble).
"When it was happening in England (second wave of the pandemic), there were cases in the English Premier League. Manchester City, Arsenal players got infected. Matches got rescheduled. Because their season is six months long, they can do it. But our season is tight. Since we have to (release) players to their respective countries, rescheduling was very difficult."
Ganguly also said that if the IPL couldn't be organised later this year, the BCCI would incur a loss of around Rs 2,500 crore.