The Board of Control for Cricket in India Apex Council has expectedly made no major decision on Friday.
The marathon four-hour teleconference has deliberated on the prospects and possibilities of the Indian Premier League 2020, which was not even on the agenda, but two crucial listed matters of the national team’s revised FTP and domestic cricket schedule were reportedly postponed for postponed for finalisation.
Interestingly enough, Jay Shah also joined the meeting even as his term as the BCCI secretary has been over last month. He was permitted to attend the meeting after a go ahead with the BCCI legal team.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) nominee in the council, Alka Rehani Bharadwaj has reportedly objected to Shah’s presence in the meeting. The board had argued that status quo should be maintained since the matter was subjudice.
The Apex Council discussed UAE as the likely venue for the IPL 2020 between September last week and mid-November, should the International Cricket Council confirm the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.
“UAE is the most likely choice for the IPL with India getting increasingly unsafe (due to COVID-19),” PTI has quoted an anonymous BCCI official as saying. “If the IPL is held in the UAE, then it only makes sense the Indian cricketers train there before the tournament. They have a good infrastructure in place.”
The Indian cricketers have not played any cricket since March. The issue of their training was also discussed with Dubai being the likely venue.
“The other likely options are training camp in either Dharamshala or Ahmedabad (at the renovated Motera stadium) with a bio-bubble in place. But the cases continue to increase in India, so UAE will be the safest option,” the official added.
The postponement of the World Cup though appears a foregone conclusion, the ICC Board is expected to put a stamp on this on Monday.
The BCCI, according to an insider, has also not take any decision as the legality of the virtual meeting could be challenged for the presence of Shah and several other reasons.
Besides Shah, Sourav Ganguly’s term as the board president will also be over on July 27. The Board has moved the Supreme Court for permission to allow the office-bearers to serve their full terms in the BCCI and exclude their tenure in the State bodies, the matter filed in April is yet to be admitted by the Apex Court.
Expectedly there were discussions and deliberations in the four-hour meeting, but no conclusive decisions.