The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), beginning on March 27, will be held in India or South Africa. The final call hasn’t been taken yet, but UAE and Sri Lanka can be safely ruled out. BCCI officials, the chairman of the IPL Governing Council and the interim CEO of the board, who also heads all IPL affairs, met the 10 IPL franchise owners last week. On the issue of the destination, while BCCI wants the IPL in India, franchise owners agreed that it should be held at a place where it will remain incident-free and if it has to be moved overseas, a majority favoured South Africa.
One of the suggestions at the meeting was that if the tournament is held in India, a temporary – and unofficial – proposal suggests it can be conducted between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, where three stadiums are available along with as many practice grounds. In the meeting, four franchises suggested it should either be played in India or be moved to South Africa; two franchises left it for BCCI to take the call; one franchise maintained that if it is not possible to host it in India, it should move to UAE; One franchise believes UAE should be the only destination; two franchises have decided to go with the majority.
None of the stakeholders have suggested Sri Lanka as an option. The BCCI considered a ll options and conveyed that another meeting will be called for in a week’s time, ahead of the mega-auction, to arrive at a final decision. The Indian cricket board is also of the view that the IPL must not go back to the UAE. They have presented a couple of reasons for the same. All these suggestions from the stakeholders – and the BCCI’s own view that only if left with no choice will the tournament move overseas – has made South Africa firm favourites to host the league should Covid precautions restrict India from hosting it.
