The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly going to resume IPL 2021 on September 19. The final of the tournament will take place on October 15. At the end of May, BCCI had confirmed that IPL 2021 will be resuming in UAE before the T-20 World Cup in October.
IPL 2021 was indefinitely suspended due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the bio-bubbles of four IPL teams. Varun Chakravarthy, Sandeep Warrier, Wriddhiman Saha, and Amit Mishra were the players who contracted the virus. In the CSK camp, L Balaji and batting coach Mike Hussey also tested positive for COVID-19 at the camp. While talking to ANI, one BCCI official gave information about the schedule for the remaining IPL 2021 games.
“The discussions went really well and with ECB already giving us the oral nod to host the event ahead of the BCCI SGM, it was about closing the deal over the last week. The first game after the season resumes will be held on September 19 while we will have the final on October 15. The BCCI was always keen on a 25-day window to finish the remaining matches.”
The main concern for BCCI is that other boards may not allow their players to participate in the second phase of the tournament since the schedule is already lined up and they won’t change it for a domestic tournament.
It looks like English players are unlikely to feature in the tournament which resumes in September as they already have a very tight schedule. England will host Pakistan and Bangladesh and the ECB also won’t allow players that are rested to play in IPL 2021. Bangladesh Cricket Board also announced that they won’t allow Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman to play remaking games of IPL 2021. Cricket Australia is yet to take a decision on this matter but it is unlikely as they too have series lined up in the future.
BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla has also insisted that the tournament will move further even with the absence of overseas players and franchises will look for a replacement. Many big international stars are also likely to receive salary cuts if they miss the remaining matches. The senior BCCI official also told ANI that discussions are being held with other boards for overseas players. Meanwhile, BCCI is also going to make big changes in the scheduling of the remaining IPL 2021 games.