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'Remainder of IPL 2021 can't happen in India', says Sourav Ganguly

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: May 10, 2021, 01:07 PM IST
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File photo of Sourav Ganguly when he was speaking during a press conference at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on October 23, 2019. Photograph:(AFP)

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'Once the players got affected, we called it off. Look at the leagues going around the world. They have had COVID-19 cases, but they have continued': Sourav Ganguly

The Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly has affirmed that the remaining matches of IPL 2021 can't be held in India. He additionally added that it is too soon to find a space to finish the league. 

IPL 2021 was suspended inconclusively on May 4 after different COVID-19 breaks arose in the bio-secure bubble of a few groups. An aggregate of 29 IPL 2021 matches were finished before the BCCI had to suspend the league. 

In an interaction with Sportstar, Sourav Ganguly discussed the conceivable resumption of IPL 2021.

"India is supposed to go to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and five T20Is in July. There are lots of organizational hazards like 14-day quarantine. It can't happen in India. This quarantine is tough to handle. Too early to say how we can find a slot to complete the IPL."

Regardless of the suspension of IPL 2021, Sourav Ganguly kept up that the choice to have the league was the correct one. He expressed that the occasion would have continued if COVID-19 positive cases didn't arrive in the IPL 2021 bio-bubble. 

"You can say that now in hindsight that the IPL should have been called off earlier. Mumbai and Chennai legs did not have cases. Only when the IPL reached Delhi and Ahmedabad did the cases rise. People will say a lot of things in any case. The English Premier League had so many people affected. But they could reschedule the matches. But you can't do that with IPL. You stop it for seven days, and it is done. Players go back home, and then the process of quarantine starts from scratch," he said.

"As I said, we would have continued if there were no cases. We would have completed the IPL. The players were in the bubble, and there were no crowds at the venues. Players were not getting infected. Once the players got affected, we called it off. Look at the leagues going around the world. They have had COVID-19 cases, but they have continued." – he added.

Preceding IPL 2021, India facilitated England for a full series including four Tests, five T20Is, and three ODIs. The BCCI likewise figured out how to put a few homegrown competitions effectively. Asked how they had the option to pull it off without an excessive number of problems, Sourav Ganguly clarified:

“Because the numbers were down, and we had just two teams. The bio-bubbles were there. We had 760 players in the bio-bubble during the domestic games, but the key was that the Covid numbers were down across the country – 7,000 a day. Now we have more than four lakh daily cases.” – he signed off.