BCCI Confident Of Staging IPL 2021 In India: Arun Dhumal

Arun Dhumal, the treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has said that the board isn’t even keeping the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the backup venue for the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as it is confident of pulling off the entire tournament in India itself.

With the global contagion at its peak in the country, the 13th season of the IPL was conducted in the bio-secure environment of the United Arab Emirates last September.

However, since then the situation in India has improved by leaps and bounds. Dhumal added that the condition in India is better than in the UAE

“We are working on having the IPL in India and we are hopeful that we would be able to organize it. We are not even thinking of a back-up also at this point in time, we are wanting to do it here. India is probably safer than UAE at this point. Hopefully, the situation remains stable and keep improving and we will have it here,” Arun Dhumal told PTI.

The BCCI recently kickstarted the domestic season in the country with the staging of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. Following the successful staging of the tournament, the BCCI will now be hosting the Vijay Hazare 50-over Trophy, Vinoo Mankad tournament- U-19 50-over Trophy- and the Women’s One-dayers.

For the first time in 87 years, there will be no Ranji Trophy this season. Arun Dhumal provided the reasoning behind not staging the coveted FC tournament in a season marred by the pandemic.

“We took feedback from the players, selection committee, state associations. It was felt that 2020 is already gone and rather than having two Ranji events in the same calendar year, it is better to go for white-ball cricket. That way we could have something for junior cricket and women considering the importance of the Women’s World Cup and the U-19 World Cup next year. Rather than having one tournament, we thought of having events in different categories,” Arun Dhumal further said.

With the domestic tournament taking place in a bio-secure environment, Arun Dhumal accepted that it has been tough for both players as well as organizers but added that given the current situations, it remains the only option till the time the players get vaccinated. He further added the board is in touch with the government in order to get the players get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“It is tough but at least this way we are getting to play. We are working on getting our players vaccinated. The government’s directive is that frontline worker and the most vulnerable will be the first to get vaccinated, but we are in touch with the government to get our players vaccinated,” Arun Dhumal said.

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