MUMBAI: Truth will out. Too late for the men who matter in the world’s richest and most powerful cricket board though. Days after the BCCI was forced to indefinitely suspend the Indian Premier League, the “realisation” (seriously?) appears to have belatedly dawned within the board’s corridors of power that taking the IPL bandwagon to the COVID “ground zero” cities of New Delhi and Ahmedabad was “ill-advised”.
It bears noting that it was after the IPL, in its second leg, moved to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state and the national capital that a number of players and support staff tested positive for COVID-19.
“There is a belief within many BCCI and state officials that the decision to take the second phase to Delhi and Ahmedabad was wrong,” an official close to the developments told Times of India.
“There were four teams in each city and except for the main ground, which is an international-level facility and hosted matches, the alternate facilities meant for practice were open to exposure to COVID-19.”
Earlier this year, the Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket stadium, made its international debut with the series against England. However, the official mentioned that even as the venue is suitable for first-class cricket, for T20s, the ground still isn’t suitable.
“The problem with the newly-built Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera is that the adjoining grounds and facilities are still under construction. While it will be a state-of-the-art facility with multiple grounds, it is not yet completed.
“The teams can’t use the current practice nets as it is not suitable for big-hitting needed during T20 practice. It is okay for Test matches or first-class cricket practice,” the official added.
The official was also of the opinion that taking the players to the Gujarat College ground was filled with loads of risk due to the presence of security guards, gardeners and others.
Three teams, which practised there, were affected by COVID-19. Four players from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) alone tested positive.
