IPL 2021 Postponement: BCCI's Caravan Model, Laxity Come Under Fire

The Indian cricket board has been left red-faced following the indefinite postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with questions raised about the loopholes in following the bio-bubble. The BCC

Similarly, the positive cases that emerged in four of the eight teams that led to the postponement of the IPL happened during the second phase in Delhi and Ahmedabad, where the Covid-19 pandemic had taken a serious turn and Covid patients are dying by the hundreds.

The teams travelled to both the cities from Mumbai and Chennai after the first phase ended there on April 25. Within a week positive cases emerged and the IPL was postponed.

"It would have made sense had the tournament been played in one venue like Mumbai or better still the UAE," said the official. In fact, the franchises were okay with hosting the IPL in Mumbai which has four grounds considering that it wasn't being held in the UAE.

IANS had reported prior to the IPL that Mumbai was being considered a venue to host IPL games. For some reason, the BCCI decided to have it on a caravan model.

There are questions over the BCCI's decision to allow food delivery from outside. In the UAE edition of IPL as well as India's tour of Australia, food delivery was allowed and there were no positive cases. The UAE edition had witnessed positive cases only on arrival from India.

Realising that they have made a mistake in allowing the same leeway of food delivery in a country that is witnessing rapid surge in Covid-19 cases eventually banned it just last week. But by then, it was too late.

The management of the bio-bubble was always going to be tough in India. In the UAE, since the venues were three and within proximity of each other, it was easier to manage.

In India, there was no control over the local associations. In Delhi, for example, it emerged on Wednesday morning that two outsiders with the purpose of betting managed to sneak into the bio-bubble by getting accreditation. The BCCI is yet to comment on the issue.