Rajeev Shukla, the vice-president of BCCI, has cleared that the unavailability of the foreign players will not stop them from hosting the remainder of the Indian Premier League 2021. BCCI has announced that recently-suspended IPL 2021’s remaining games will take place in UAE in the September-October window.
The league came to a premature halt on May 4, when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided the inevitable. After the coronavirus breached into the bio-bubble, the board decided to suspend the league indefinitely.
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BCCI was in constant talks and explored all the possibilities of staging it at the earliest possible opportunity. However, keeping Team India’s busy schedule in mind, they found September’s window most apt and will finish the league just in time before the T20 World Cup 2021.
Meanwhile, foreign boards threatened to not give permission to their players for participating in the remaining part of the IPL 2021. England have already mentioned they will give priority to an already packed schedule of international cricket while there is still doubt about the availability of New Zealand players.
“I am already here. Now a team of BCCI office-bearers, president (Sourav Ganguly), secretary (Jay Shah) and the IPL chairman (Brijesh Patel) will be coming here in a couple of days,” Shukla told Khaleej Times.
“We will be having discussions with the cricket board here and the other authorities. And accordingly, the schedule will be made, so the tournament happens in a very smooth manner as it happened here last year.
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“We have discussed that (foreign players) issue also. Our main focus is on completing this edition of the IPL. It should not be left halfway through. So, whichever foreign players are available is fine. Whoever is not available, it is not going to stop us from hosting the tournament.
“The Indian players are there, foreign players are there, but few foreign players will not be available. As I said, we have to complete our tournament.
“So the franchises will definitely look for other players. Whoever is available, we are going to have the tournament with them. That’s our policy,” he added.
IPL 2021 can resume around 18 September in UAE. BCCI is planning to have a 50 per cent crowd back in the stadium. Last year, IPL 2020 took place in UAE and was played behind closed door for the entirety.
