BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is confident about hosting all IPL 2021 games in the scheduled venues despite the rise in covid cases in Mumbai. With few days left for the start of IPL 2021 speculation in media suggested that games could be moved out of Mumbai at the last moment.
Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has assured that games will go ahead despite 10 groundsmen were tested positive for coronavirus. Moreover, Ganguly also confirmed that there are no plans to change venues while talking to Telegraph. His confirmation came hours after the Maharashtra government declared an end-of-week lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19.
“The IPL matches will be held in Mumbai. We have got the necessary permission and assurances from the state government to conduct matches there. Mumbai will be hosting only ten matches between April 10 to 25 and there will be nothing to worry inside the bio-bubble. We are in a well-secured set-up and the players and support staff will be safe”
IPL 2021 will take place as it has been planned and all the guidelines provided by BCCI will be followed strictly. Players can follow the bubble to bubble transfer rigidly and make sure no one gets the virus. Even if one gets caught up with the virus, then proper isolation guidelines will be followed.
Lockdown in Mumbai unlikely to impact IPL 2021
After seeing a record number of cases every day in the last week, the Maharashtra government has gone ahead with the decision to impose a lockdown in Mumbai during weekends. However, IPL is unlikely to be affected. Previously, the night curfew was not becoming a stumbling block for the tournament.
Mumbai is expected to host games between April 10 and April 25. Even before the schedule was released, there were doubts about IPL 2021 being played in Mumbai. However, BCCI went ahead with including Wankhede Stadium in the list of venues. As things stand, the entire tournament will be played behind closed doors. BCCI will be hoping that recent positive cases for Akshar Patel, Nitish Rana, and Devdutt Padikkal are exceptions. Strict bio bubbles did help them to successfully stage the tournament in 2020, so BCCI looks confident about executing similar plans in India.