IPL 2021: BCCI vice-president confirms dates for UAE leg; details inside

The Indian Premier League 2021 was suspended last month owing to multiple breaches in the team bubbles due to COVID-19. While the remaining matches would be played in the United Arab Emirates, they will be played between September 19-October 15.

The highly entertaining 2021 Indian Premier League came to a pre-mature halt last month after bubbles of the four sides were breached. With nearly ten participating members testing COVID positive, the organisers had no choice but to suspend the tournament indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced last month that the remaining IPL 2021 would be played in the United Arab Emirates. Although the dates were not finalised until then, it was presumed that a September-October window is likely.

In the meantime, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has confirmed the dates. “IPL will be held between September 19 and October 15,” he was quoted as saying to IANS. The complete schedule of the same would be announced later, with matches being held in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

The IPL 2021 remainder would get over just three days before the ICC World T20 2021 between October-November. While the BCCI would also host the global T20 event, it is unclear if it would be hosted in India.

Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council is exploring hosting it in the UAE and Oman, while BCCI is also reportedly in talks with Sri Lanka. Currently, BCCI needs to inform the ICC by June 28 if it would host the event in India, which is going through the COVID second wave, with the third wave likely around that time.

“There should be no problem with the gap. The first phase of the T20 World Cup will comprise qualifiers. So, the main teams like India and others will get sufficient gap,” said Shukla.

Even ICC stated that there was no mandatory rule of a gap between a domestic and international event. “We will release the dates and venue of T20 World Cup only in July. We cannot comment on it as of now. But, there is no rule on the need of a gap ahead of an ICC event. The ICC needs ten days to prepare the pitch and the ground ahead of an event. That too is a norm and not a rule,” an official from the ICC was quoted as saying.

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