Ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning a meeting with all the franchise owners on Saturday
As per reports, the meeting, which will be held virtually, will be to take a call on the potential venues for the upcoming season, which is likley to begin on on April 2. However, no confirmation on the timing of the virtual session has been revealed till now.
“It was supposed to be tomorrow (January 22) but we have not received confirmation as yet,” multiple franchise officials were quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. They added that they are awaiting a formal communication from the Indian board BCCI.
Meanwhile, a report in Cricbuzz claimed that Brijesh Patel has confirmed that the meeting will be hel on Saturday.
Notably, the main agenda of the meeting will be to decide the venues of IPL 2022. Moreover, the BCCI is expected to apprise the franchise owners of the planning and the status of the upcoming auction.
Even as reports had suggested that South Africa and Sri Lanka are the stand-by options due to prevalent Covid-19 scenarion in India, it has been learnt the the board wants to stage the lucrative tournament in home.
Notably, the BCCI was forced to partially host the previous season in the UAE.
Notably, the full 2020 season and half of the 2021 IPL season were staged in the UAE due to the global pandemic.
At present, India is witnessing a massive spike in Covid-19 cases and if things don’t improve in the coming months, the Indian board would once again be compelled to shift the cash-rich league to South Africa or Sri Lanka.
A recent report in Indian Express had said that the BCCI was extremely pleased with the current arrangements made by Cricket South Africa (CSA) on the ongoing India tour and as a result, it was looking at the rainbow nation as a viable option if situaton demands.
Significantly, South Africa had also hosted the 2009 edition of IPL due to the general elections in India.
Meanwhile, the report also suggested that the island nation of Sri Lanka is also part of Plan B for the Indian board.
Notably, the upcoming 15th season is all set to be the longest-ever with the addition of the two new teams – Lucknow and Ahmedabad recently.
Although the BCCI had staged the previous two seasons in the Middle East, it is now looking for a new venue as it doesn’t want to be over-dependent on the UAE every time and also the time difference would suit the players in the rainbow nation.
“We can’t be dependent on UAE all the time so we decided to explore more options, South Africa’s time difference also works out well for the players,” said a BCCI official as quoted by Indian Express.
According to the report, the arrangements in South Africa for the ongoing three-Test series has pleased the BCCI.
Few days back, an another report in the Time of India (ToI) had suggested that the BCCI is mullling to organise the entire league in Maharashtra, across four venues – Brabourne Stadium and Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (MCA) in Gahunje in Pune however, the rising Covid cases led to the postponement of the Ranji Trophy, women’s T20 league and has now forced the Indian board to redraw the IPL 2022 schedule even as it had wanted the upcoming season to be held in India.