The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is looking at possibilities to move the upcoming India-England ODI series out of Pune due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the state of Maharashtra. The state has seen more than 4,500 cases a day for three days out of the last five days and the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey has even talked about imposing the lockdown once again.
This has put the three ODI matches between India and England which are to be played on March 23, 26, and 28. This series will be played after the ongoing four-match Test series of which one Test is remaining to be played at Ahmedabad. The Narendra Modi Stadium will also host the five-match T20I series between the two sides as well from March 12 onwards.
BCCI Is Now Looking At Options To Relocate The ODI Matches
Maharashtra is witnessing a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases and recorded over 8,000 of them on Thursday with Mumbai registered over 1,100 cases on the same day. England and India were scheduled to fly out to Pune for the 3-match ODI series but the BCCI is now looking at options to relocate the ODI matches, in case the Covid-19 cases keep rising in Maharashtra.
England is currently trailing 1-2 in the four-Test series after losing the third Test at Ahmedabad recently by 10 wickets in two days’ time. This also means that England is out of the race for the finals of the ICC World Test Championship finals. India needs to win or draw the fourth Test, also to be played in Ahmedabad, to face New Zealand in the WTC final at Lord’s in June.
Meanwhile, Sport Today also reported that the BCCI is mulling having the IPL 2021 matches at several venues, instead of previously thought Mumbai and Ahmedabad. There is a backup plan to host the matches across 4 to 5 venues in India, which is plan B in case a venue faces a COVID-19 surge at the time the tournament will be hosted.
In all likelihood, the knockout stages and the final of IPL 2021 will be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
