IPL 2021 is almost here. As cricketing fans sit glued to their screens for the first game of the season later today, BCCI has announced a major change to the functioning of games due to the second wave of coronavirus across the country. As stated in a statement released by them on Thursday, currently the media will not be allowed to cover this season of the IPL from the venues. However, if the situation improves, this restriction will be lifted.
“Owing to the health and safety concerns, media personnel will not have access to the stadium to cover the games or team practice sessions.”
Meanwhile, BCCI said that it has plans to facilitate virtual post-match press conferences after each match to the media. IPL 2020 also followed similar strict protocols in UAE during September and October last year.
“If health and safety conditions are more favourable later in the season, media may be allowed to access the stadiums to cover the tournament. Such an announcement will be made in due course.”
Stricter Covid-19 Protocols
With the way the coronavirus situation is shaping up now, BCCI has put multiple protocols in place, released in its SOP’s owing to health concerns of the players and organising staff.
The board has requested different check-ins at airports, selected Hyderabad and Indore as backup venues, and created a total of 12 bio bubbles to battle the pandemic. It has also been discussing with the government regarding vaccinations for the players, but no official confirmation about the same has been made yet.
The last few days have been challenging for IPL 2021 since cases were reported in different branches of the tournament. Recently, 14 crew members testing positive inside the bio bubble. Along with that Axar Patel, Nitish Rana, Daniel Sams, Kiran More, and 12 members of the Wankhede ground staff & 6 members of the event management team had also tested positive for contracting the virus. However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has assured that matches will go ahead as per schedule.