After a breach in the bio bubble that resulted in multiple Covid Cases across 4 different teams, the BCCI yesterday, decided to indefinitely suspend IPL 2021. They were supported by the cricket boards of South Africa and Australia, saying that this was the right step to ensure the safety of players.
However, the Board is looking for a window to resume the season, possibly after they host the T20 World Cup in October. The UAE is still a contingency option. There has also been a talk about moving the T-20 World Cup to UAE.
A top BCCI official has told the Indian Express, “We are looking to conduct the remaining IPL matches after we host the World T20 in October-November. If all goes well, we will host both the World T20 and the remainder of the IPL in India. The UAE is also an option,”
Meanwhile, IPL’s Governing Council Chairman Brijesh Patel said that while it’s true that the board is looking for another window, they have not yet finalised when it will be rescheduled.
Now details of how the breach occurred have been doing rounds. As per TOI, the breach occurred last week when Varun Chakravarty was officially taken to the hospital to get a shoulder scan done but, he had complained of not feeling well. After this incident, he came back to the bubble in Ahmedabad and met Warrier for a meal.
Later while going for practice Chakravarthy complained of not feeling well and was moved to the masseur’s room to isolate while Sandeep Warrier went for the practice, where the Delhi Capitals were also practicing. This is where the breach occurred as per the BCCI. As DC and KKR were scheduled to practice at the same time, Warrier chatted with Amit Mishra for a while during practice. After that Amit Mishra complained of his discomfort and was put in isolation while tests were run. Mishra was later tested positive for covid.
Currently, there has been a lot of flak about the conditions of the bio bubbles. While there are issues about how hotels were chosen randomly, the staff of said hotels may not have undergone a fourteen-day quarantine, or the travel arrangements were not tarmac to tarmac flights. There has also been criticism towards the creation of multiple bubbles instead of one central bubble like last year along with all matches in a single city. BCCI had been garnering criticism for holding IPL 2021 in India amidst the covid spike in the country and these revelations will most likely put them in difficult positions.