BCCI is also planning to limit the remainder of the season to just one venue with Mumbai being floated as the primary option. However, it is expected that tonight’s match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and defending champions Mumbai Indians will go ahead as planned unless there’s a late development.
The BCCI is already facing the heat for going ahead with the event despite India battling the coronavirus pandemic as the second wave continues to wreak havoc. For over 10 days now, the country has been reporting more than three lakh daily fresh cases with experts warning the peak is yet to come.
The Covid-19 crisis in the IPL has deepened after two KKR players test positive, two from CSK camp also tested positive along with a few DDCA ground staff. DC have also been asked to quarantine because they played their last game against KKR – the match featured Varun Chakravarthy, who is one of the two players to have tested positive.
News coming in that, The remainder of the Indian Premier League 2021 could be entirely moved to Mumbai from this weekend, with COVID-19 positive cases emerging within IPL bubbles, according to a report in ESPNcricinfo. Mumbai has three venues – Wankhede stadium, DY Patil stadium and Brabourne stadium. The move is being contemplated after two players in Kolkata Knight Riders – Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier – tested positive for the virus in Ahmedabad. Chennai Super Kings bowling coach L Balaji too tested positive in Delhi along with the team’s bus cleaner.
A plea was moved in the Delhi High Court on Monday, urging it to direct the Centre, the city government and cricketing bodies BCCI and DDCA to immediately stop the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches scheduled to be held in the national capital.
The petition, filed by a lawyer, was listed for hearing before Justice Prathiba M Singh, who said it appeared to be in the nature of a PIL in view of the reliefs sought and directed that it be listed before the appropriate bench.The plea was moved by Karan S Thukral, a lawyer, who has contended that conducting IPL matches in Delhi at a time when the city is grappling with a shortage of beds, oxygen, essential medicines and people are cremating their loved ones is ‘unreasonable and unjustified’.