Prominent county clubs in the UK have offered to play host to the remaining games of the recently suspended Indian Premier League in September, reported ESPNCricinfo.
The IPL 2021 was postponed indefinitely earlier this week by the BCCI after news of bio-bubble breaches in Delhi and Ahmedabad and multiple COVID-19 positive cases in four different teams’ camp.
The board is now busy making sure safe departure back home for everyone involved, but once it is done, it will also have also to seek an alternative window to host the 31 of the 60 matches still remaining in IPL 2021.
That alternative window is only possible in September – just after India’s long Test summer in the UK and just prior to the T20 World Cup – in what is otherwise an extremely busy calendar year.
Looking at it as an opportunity, ESPNCricinfo reported, multiple county clubs have proposed to play host for the remaining half of the IPL 2021.
“The MCC, Surrey and Warwickshire, who are based at Lord’s, The Kia Oval (both London) and Edgbaston (Birmingham), respectively are understood to be part of the group who wrote to the ECB inviting them to extend the opportunity to the BCCI,”
“The plans would see the tournament completed in around two weeks in the second half of September.”
“It is further understood that Lancashire’s home of Emirates Old Trafford (in Manchester) could be utilised for the tournament if the offer was accepted, though Lancashire have clarified that, although there were aware of the letter, they were not signatories. The subject is likely to come up at a virtual ICC meeting of the national chief executives scheduled for today (May 6).”
the report stated.
The English counties believe their proposal to host the rest of IPL 2021 would allow top players to prepare for the T20 World Cup and also ensure that the pitches in UAE, where the marquee ICC event could be held if it is moved outside India, remain fresh. A section of IPL played in England will also help broaden the market for the league in the UK.
An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman, however, said there is no indication from the BCCI yet that they are looking for an alt IPL window.
“We speak to the BCCI regularly about tours and other matters and we’ll continue doing so, but we have received no indication that they are looking for alternative hosts for the IPL at the moment,”
the spokesman said.
Even though the ambitious county clubs wish to host the IPL and benefit from it, there are still a large number of health, safety and logistical hurdles. While India and England players will be in the UK only, the BCCI may find it extremely difficult to get players from other countries to come over, quarantine and also play.
Several international teams will be busy during the period in September-October just before the T20 World Cup, and it would be tough for them to release players for an IPL event. Teams won’t like to be under-strength at a time they fine-tune their preparations with the World Cup glory in mind. Even if they agree to send their players, the travelling restrictions and stringent SOPs, including the mandatory seven-day isolation, will also pose major challenges.
The BCCI was forced to put the IPL 2021 on an indefinite pause after a couple of horrible afternoons that saw two KKR players – Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier – and also three non-playing CSK members – CEO Kasi Viswanathan, Laxmipathy Balaji and a bus cleaner – testing positive for coronavirus. And then Wriddhiman Saha of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Amit Mishra of Delhi Capitals (DC) also joining them in the list of positive tested individuals.
