MUMBAI: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has asserted that the Indian Premier League 2022 will be held in India “until and unless COVID-19 hits the roof”.
“It will be held in India this year, until and unless COVID-19 hits the roof,” Ganguly told Sportstar when asked about the venue of IPL 2022. “As far as venues are concerned, we are looking at hosting the matches in Maharashtra – Mumbai, and Pune. We will take a call on the venues for the knockout stages later,” he added.
The former India captain, however, did not offer any indications as to whether spectators will be allowed at the venues.
BCCI are yet to officially announce the start date of IPL 2022 but board secretary Jay Shah had hinted that the tournament is likely to begin towards the end of March.
This IPL will also mark the entry of two new franchises – Lucknow Super Giants and Ahmedabad team – taking the number of teams to 10 and the number of games to be played up from 60 to 74.
Ganguly also shared his thoughts on India’s premier domestic tournament – the ranji Trophy – which is likely to be held in two phases this time around after being cancelled last year.
“Obviously, we missed one year of Ranji Trophy – the 2020-21 season. It is the most important tournament in India, and we always wanted to organise it. But what the world has seen in the last two years, I don’t think it has happened in anybody’s lifetime.
“So keeping all these things in mind, it was actually a challenge to organise any tournament. We organised the Cooch Behar Trophy and there came the third wave. On the first day itself, 50 players contracted the virus. So, it is not easy. But we are lucky that we can still conduct tournaments. We still have our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly,” Ganguly added.
