'It will be illegal to host the IPL here': Hampshire county boss

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League was postponed on Tuesday after COVID-19 cases emerged inside the bio-secure bubble. BCCI has been looking for a possible window to continue to the cash-rich league in order to avoid hefty losses. 

A number of English counties have offered to host the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season in the month of September. IPL 2021 was been postponed indefinitely owing to the rising cases of COVID-19 across teams.

The MCC, Surrey, Lancashire, Warwickshire – based at Lord’s – the Kia Oval (London), Edgbaston (Birmingham) and Old Trafford (Manchester) are part of the group of County clubs to have written to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) while inviting them to extend the opportunity to the BCCI, according to ESPNCricinfo.

However, the Hampshire county boss stated that it is illegal to host the IPL there and there have been no serious discussions on the matter.

“I did hear about the discussion but I am not sure how it can happen. As per the current arrangement, it will be illegal to host the IPL here,” said Hampshire county boss as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Moreover, the counties are hoping that the games could be played in front of packed crowds.

However, there are a few hurdles to the plan, as stated in the report. While it is hard to predict what the pandemic will bring next, there is still some time before any final call is taken on the T20 World Cup hosting. The quarantine issue of bringing players and staff from around the world into the UK will be a major challenge. But with a number of Indian players being in the UK at the time for the Test series against England, could be helpful.

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Another major challenge is the packed calendar. The Test series between India and England ends on September 14 and the latter is expected in Pakistan for a T20I series less than a month later.

However, the counties are hoping that a window could be managed with some flexibility.