'No breach of the bubble': BCCI president Sourav Ganguly talks about COVID-19 cases in IPL 2021
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Ganguly went on to say that the decision to host the cash-rich T20 league across multiple cities in India as there were only a few cases in the country at that time.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday talked about the COVID-19 outbreak inside the Indian Premier League bio-bubble. The former Indian skipper said that the reason behind the outbreak remains unclear.
The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League was suspended on Tuesday after a number of cases for coronavirus were detected across the franchises. In an interview with the Indian Express, Sourav Ganguly was asked whether a breach in the bio-bubble the reason behind the surge in cases in IPL.
"I don’t think so. The report we got is that there’s no breach of the bubble. How it happened is very difficult to say. How so many people are getting (infected) in the country is also very difficult to say," Ganguly said in response.
Ganguly went on to say that the decision to host the cash-rich T20 league across multiple cities in India as there were only a few cases in the country at that time.
"When we decided, the number was not even close to this. We did the England tour successfully," Ganguly said.
"It (holding the tournament in the UAE) was discussed, but the (COVID-19 cases) in India in February was (virtually) nothing. It has just gone through the roof in the last three weeks. Before that it was nothing. We discussed about the UAE but then decided to do it in India," he added.
"As I said, when we decided all this, there was no (Covid spike) in India. So it’s very easy to say now (that tournament could have been held in only one city), but when this tournament was organised, Covid numbers (in India) were nothing. We started with Mumbai and finished there without any case. And Mumbai was very high (number of active Covid cases) then," he further said.
BCCI chief further assured safe travel for all the foreign contingent part of IPL to their countries.
"They will all be fine. They are all looked after and they will all reach home. The Australians will reach the Maldives tomorrow, finish their quarantine and then reach Australia safely. So I don’t see any issue," the former India captain said.
On being asked if the BCCI have any window in mind to resume the IPL season, Ganguly replied: "We will see. It’s too early to say."
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to lose over INR 2000 crore (US$ 217 million) of the broadcast and sponsorship money from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, which was indefinitely postponed on Tuesday owing to a rise in COVID-19 cases across teams.
The BCCI was forced to postpone the IPL 2021 after multiple cases of COVID-19 were reported among players and support staff from Ahmedabad and New Delhi in the last couple of days.