IPL 2021 will not have a grand opening in the fancy ways it used to be. However, BCCI will definitely have some sort of ceremony. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has members from the Differently Abled Cricket Council of India (also known as DCCI) for the opening game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Members of the DCCI attending the opening ceremony of IPL 14 will include Mahantesh GK, Vice President Sumit Jain, Gen Secy Ravi Chauhan, Joint Secy SqnLdr Abhai Pratap Singh Retd. and Treasurer John David, who will be representing the various forms of Differently Abled Cricket. The gesture of inviting them instead of organizing the opening ceremony in the usual dramatic manner has been appreciated by the Differently Abled community, who is aided with a new guiding light with the same.
“We are very thankful to Jay Shah for inviting us to attend the opening ceremony of the biggest T20 tournament in the world. From the very beginning, he has been very encouraging and has been promoting differently-abled cricket in the country,” said DCCI President Dr. Mahantesh GK sounding very grateful.
This invitation to the DCCI was followed when the office bearers of all the affiliated units of the board, including Presidents and Secretaries, were invited as spectators to the opening match between the two favourites of IPL at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Jay Shah expressed his delight of having the IPL back in India, under the presence of the Presidents and Secretaries who with their deliberations could find ways to bolster Indian Cricket.
With the tension that Covid-19 has put the BCCI under, which has managed to make its way within the specially cared bio-bubbles too, the plans for the lavish opening ceremony are called off and replaced with a simple socially distanced ceremony.