The Indian Premier League (IPL), suspended as a new coronavirus wave hitIndia, will be finished in the United Arab Emirates in September andOctober, India’s national cricket board said on Saturday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India also said it would ask the globalgoverning body for more time to make a decision on whether the Twenty20World Cup should be held in India in October and November.
The IPL, the world’s richest cricket tournament, was half-finished when itwas halted on May 4 link a number ofplayers and team officials caught coronavirus despite being in bio-securebubbles.
The board has since been in tough negotiations with other countries and theInternational Cricket Council on when to squeeze the remaining matches intothe crowded international calendar.
About 160,000 people have died in India since April 1 in a devastating wavethat has seen hospitals overwhelmed.
There are also fears that India could be hit by yet another surge in caseslater this year.
The BCCI said that it was moving the remaining matches to the UAE — whichstaged all of last year’s IPL — because of the monsoon season and did notmention the pandemic.
Read Top Stories
The board said a special general meeting had “unanimously agreed” for theremaining matches to be held in the UAE “considering the monsoon season inIndia in the months of September-October this year”.
The monsoon season is generally considered to run from June tomid-September.
The World Cup is also due to be held in India from October but it is alsoat risk from the pandemic. The tournament is due to be discussed by the ICCnext Tuesday.
The BCCI said that the general meeting “authorised the office bearers toseek an extension of time from the ICC to take an appropriate call on thehosting of ICC T20 World Cup 2021”.
