With less than a month left before the IPL is scheduled to start, the preparation for the tournament has been thrown into absolute chaos. At a time when the BCCI was planning to form the schedule for the tournament, the COVID-19 mess in the Chennai Super Kings camp has pretty much disrupted the board’s plan.
On Saturday, the BCCI confirmed 13 positive COVID-19 cases among the touring party for the IPL in UAE. The cricket board also confirmed that out of the 13 cases, two are players. Most of the members who have been tested positive are from the Chennai Super Kings camp.
With the BCCI now dealing with all the mess, the schedule for the tournament seems to have taken the back seat. According to a report in The Times of India, the remaining franchises have said “we have not heard anything from the BCCI-IPL ever since we flew in here”.
Tournament-opener in doubt:
With several members of the Chennai Super Kings’ camp testing positive for the coronavirus, it is highly unlikely that the three-time champions will lock horns against Mumbai Indians in the first game of the tournament. Given that players have tested positive, the franchise has to now quarantine for 14 days, instead of six, and that could mean IPL could be left with no choice but to start with another team.
While the schedule is not out yet, Chennai and Mumbai were set to play the first game of the tournament. Earlier this month, Rohit Sharma had hinted at the same when he congratulated MS Dhoni on his retirement from international cricket.
The franchises are also unhappy with the way BCCI is treating them in UAE. All the franchises have said they are left on their own in the country.
“The other day, lights went off at the practice venue when a team was training,” a franchise representative was quoted as saying by the news outlet.
Another representative said that the team’s staff hasn’t received the FOB (tracking device) bands yet while a third one said: “We’re still trying to figure how to commute between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, considering the two Emirates have different Covid regulations.”
Another franchise is not convinced with the bubble being built and said: “this is not a commodity purchase and proactive depth-data analysis is missing.” With not much time left in the start of the competition, BCCI have a herculean task in front of them. The board really needs to sort things out or things could really go bad.
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