IPL 2020 to be held in UAE, conditions apply
The Indian Premier League is likely to be held in the UAE during October and November, subject to government clearance and the International Cricket Council (ICC) announcing the postponement of the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah apprised the members at the Apex Council meeting on Friday.
Once the T20 World Cup, supposed to be held over the same period, is officially postponed, the BCCI will approach the Indian government to check if they can host the IPL in India. If the situation in the country as regards the pandemic remains inconducive to hosting the tournament, they will shift the IPL to the UAE.
No domestic cricket till Dec
The board also informed it’s Apex Council that no domestic cricket would be held until December. Thirty-eight teams take part in various domestic and age-group tournaments played across the country. Since players’ mobility is a big factor, the board doesn’t want to taking any hasty decision on its domestic calendar.
Tournaments like Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy and Challengers series will be scrapped and age-group tournaments too will take a major hit this season.
Not just domestic cricket, but no international games are likely to be played at home this year.
Camp in Ahmedabad
The world’s biggest cricket stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad couldn’t host its first game due to Covid-19, but chances are India will hold a cricket camp there before the series in Australia.
The stadium has quality accommodation inside its premises where players can stay. They can also be quarantined, if needed, and contracted players can experience open spaces for a return to groove after an extended period away from cricket.
New CEO advertisement
The Indian board has decided to issue an advertisement calling for applications for the post of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). BCCI last week accepted Rahul Johri’s resignation from the position and relieved him of his services with immediate effect.
No objection raised at Shah’s presence
BCCI secretary Jay Shah attended the Apex Council meeting and there was no objection raised by any of its members. Board President Sourav Ganguly shared legal opinion from a former chief justice of India and also from the BCCI’s legal team that the eligibility criteria and cooling-off period was relevant only for contesting elections and not for attending meetings, and Shah breached no rules by doing so. The representative of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in the Apex Council, Alka Rehani Bharadwaj, had raised a red flag over the matter in her mail dated July 4. She argued that Shah couldn’t attend the meeting as his term had ended last month and he should go for a cooling-off period, as per the Lodha Committee’s recommendations. She hadasked for the joint secretary to “officiate” as the secretary during the meeting.
Indian express
