IPL 2021

Delhi, May 29: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), during its Special General Meeting, formally decided that the unfinished part of the IPL 2021 will be held in the United Arab Emirates.

The move to stage the Indian Premier League 2021 in the UAE was largely expected. As reported earlier, the BCCI has already had an informal agreement with the Emirates Cricket Board. The formal decision was taken on Saturday (May 29) to move the remainder of IPL 2021 to the UAE – in view of the bad weather in India around September-October, when it wants to host the remaining 31 IPL games.

The biggest obstacle to host the tournament will be the non-availability of foreign players, and the BCCI has decided that the franchises will be told to take replacements, both from India and overseas, to refurbish their line-ups. England and Wales Cricket Board has already stated that it won’t release its players for the unfinished IPL while Cricket Australia is yet come out with its position on the matter. A meeting with the IPL franchises will happen at some stage.

The board also decided to seek time till the first week of July from the International Cricket Council for a decision on staging the T20 World Cup in India. The ICC has slated its meeting on June 1 to decide on the matter, but the world body may have to defer the decision on moving the October 18-November 15 tournament out of India in view of the BCCI’s request. The BCCI thinks that it will explore all possibilities to host it in India itself.

The meeting also decided it will pursue talks with the government over tax concession for the T20 World Cup, and it was calculated that the BCCI will have a liability of INR 900 crores if it failed to get the exemption. Considering the financial liability and predicted Covid-19 situation in the country, the BCCI will take a call on staging the T20 World Cup. For the time being, it would tell the ICC to grant another month’s time.

 

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Meanwhile, the issue regarding payments to domestic players, who were supposed to be compensated after several tournaments were not hosted, was not discussed in the SGM. One of the associations even raised this issue for discussion but was turned down by Ganguly and Rajeev Shukla, stating that it was not part of the agenda.

The meeting was also a huge assertion for Mohammed Azharuddin, who was allowed to attend it ahead of Shivlal Yadav, who was nominated in a faction-ridden Annual General Meeting of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. The meeting, held virtually, decided to allow Azharuddin after the legal department of the BCCI concluded that the claim of the former India captain is genuine.