BCCI CEO Ready With Two Separate Drafts For Remainder Of IPL 2021, UAE Likely To Host The Tournament

Hemang Amin, the BCCI’s interim CEO, and also the COO of the IPL is ready with two separate drafts for the IPL 2021. Amin has prepared the documents with two choices to host the remainder of the season: the UAE and the UK.

However, it is believed that Amin wished for the season to be completed in the UAE, and so do the franchises. The BCCI’s Special General Meeting (SGM) meeting is called for May 29 – two days before the ICC’s meeting on June 1 where the governing council will discuss the plans for the T20 World Cup.

Following the suspension of the IPL 2021 early in May, the ICC is likely to shift the T20 World Cup, which is slated for October-November, out of India to the UAE.

Hemang Amin presents logical points to resume IPL 2021 in UAE over UK

The English counties had offered the BCCI an option to host the IPL in the UK. However, Amin believes that it would be better for the tournament and the board if they conduct it in the UAE, where they successfully staged the season last year, despite the covid scare. Amin, as reported by Times Of India, makes a few logical explanations for his stance.

A) Shifting to the UK will be a risky proposition because starting mid-September, the possibility of monsoon returning post the English summer is reasonably higher.

By October, rain is incessant and that will also mean relatively colder weather. Will the BCCI – having paid hosting fees to the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to conduct the IPL there – take the risk of matches getting washed away and once again receive flak? In contrast, the weather in UAE is hot in September but begins to cool down by the end of the month, as the IPL witnessed first-hand last year.

B) Hosting the tournament in the UK will mean relatively higher costs – spending in Pounds, vis-à-vis spending in Dirhams (UAE). While the BCCI can ask franchises to make up for the costs by keeping the gate money – because crowds will be allowed at grounds in England – England will still be a costlier proposition.

C) The UAE is a tried and tested venue, with a quarter of the IPL matches being hosted there in 2014 and the entire edition in 2020. The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), which laid down a red carpet for the BCCI to come and play in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, is once again requesting they be allowed to do so. The franchises and the BCCI know their way around.

The PCB will also be conducting their remainder of PSL 2021, which was too halted mid-season due to covid-19 outbreak in players and staff, in the UAE next month.

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