Team India is set to leave for the UK in the first week of June to participate in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton. It will be followed by a five-match Test series against England, which will begin in August. Hence, the team will be without any cricketing action in England during July.
Meanwhile, BCCI announced a limited-over series in Sri Lanka in July, where they will send a second-string team to participate and the members of the Test squad won’t be participating in that.
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BCCI is looking for a vacant window for the remainder of the IPL 2021, which got suspended earlier this month after a number of Covid-19 cases were reported inside the bio-bubble. Sri Lanka, UAE and England are in the race to host the remaining 31 games of IPL 2021.
If BCCI plans to host the IPL after England series, they will get a two-week window to stage the remaining 31 games, which won’t be sufficient time. The T20 World Cup is also in line to be hosted in India in the October-November window. Hence, the board is in a tricky situation to fit in the IPL.
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Now, BCCI and ECB are discussing the possibility to shorten the five-match Test series between the two teams. If the series is shortened, ECB would want the IPL 2021 to take place in England to cover up the financial loss.
The Times of India quoted a source saying “BCCI and the ECB are in discussions to tweak the five-Test series. Details of those discussions aren’t public yet. But in whichever manner the ECB agrees to tweak the Test series, they will want the IPL in England because the counties can earn from it. There’ll be a good chance of a quid pro quo.”
The sources have even stated that England remains the first option for IPL but UAE and Sri Lanka cannot be discounted either. “Only if costs are escalating to a point where it starts affecting stakeholders, the BCCI will consider the UAE as the second option for the IPL. On that front, we aren’t even discounting the idea of hosting the IPL in Sri Lanka,” the sources further added.
