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Is IPL 2021 in jeopardy after COVID-19 positive cases among players?
Gulf News
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8 months ago
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Gulf News editors discuss the possible fallout
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00:00
Hello, good morning. This is Gautam Bhattacharya of DULF News. Joining with me is my colleague
00:06
Shyam Krishna. We are here with something breaking from IPL. The Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal
00:14
Challengers Bangalore match has been rescheduled after two of the KKR players, they have tested
00:19
positive for the COVID-19. We also believe that a third player has been in isolation and the team
00:29
has taken up the testing procedures in right earnest as per their protocol. So with me I've
00:35
got Shyam. So you know we have been, the tournament is in the fourth week and after the tournament
00:44
started, these are the first two positive cases that have come up. I mean before that there were
00:49
a number of them like Akshar and one more case. Nitish Rana. Devdutt and Nitish Rana but that
00:58
was just on the eve of the tournament. So what kind of an impact it may you know create on the
01:07
IPL, Shyam? I think the players will be more jittery now because if you look at last week
01:16
also there were some kind of discordant notes you know with all those Australian players leaving and
01:22
Adam Samper even went on to the extent saying that the
01:26
firebubbles are vulnerable. He said it was not as secure as the last year. That is when
01:34
Mr. Rahman from the BCCI came and reassured that the bubbles are reinforced and players don't have
01:39
to be worried. But these two cases, I mean two confirmed cases is enough reason to worry.
01:49
Yes, see from what I understand the way we have seen them doing things in UAE last year as well
01:56
as here. I mean it's basically a continuous process. This was their third test. I think in a
02:04
week they do it thrice and in the third test these two players Varun Chakravorty and Sandeep
02:10
Variat, these are the two confirmed positive cases. So you know the bubble is quite, I mean
02:16
nothing is foolproof but you know in this bubble there is a continuous process where
02:22
every week before and after games they undertake this test. So this test must have been before the
02:28
RCB game that's where unfortunately these two have tested positive. They are in isolation. What is
02:34
happening is with most of the players cases fortunately because of the general health and
02:39
the age factor, they are asymptomatic but obviously as you said the players and the
02:45
other stakeholders will also get jittery because of the obvious reasons and the environment in which
02:51
the tournament is being played and the other thing that may create a bit of a problem is
02:56
the frequency of their matches. I mean they're again playing on the fifth.
03:02
So this is hardly. No, I think it's on the eighth.
03:06
Now it's on the eighth. Okay, as per the rescheduled thing. So I mean we hope that
03:15
this will pass but do you see any reason in kind of trying to reduce on the number of venues
03:24
to cut down on the travel and still they have got two more legs to play
03:30
and then the teams again need to go back to Ahmedabad for the final round of the playoffs
03:36
and final. Do you see any logic in trying to cut down on the number of venues at this point
03:41
since none of them are playing home matches anyway? To me at this point of time,
03:48
I mean I don't think they are in a position to make any
03:51
reworking to the schedules because all of these things have been already drawn up and
03:56
to rearrange it would be a logistical nightmare. See what is different from the, I mean I would
04:02
like to harp on what is the difference between the UAE and in India. When the tournament was
04:07
held in the UAE last year, COVID was fairly under control and the cases were not so high
04:13
and also just three venues and now it's an hour's drive from each venue.
04:21
But in India, it's a different scenario, you have first and foremost
04:28
it's the sheer number of venues, we have something like five or more venues being used.
04:34
Second thing, you look at the COVID cases in India, I was looking at the India
04:40
today's report and I was saying that three million active COVID cases in India right now
04:45
and which is huge and so the COVID is so widespread like then it brings us the
04:52
question, how secure is a bio bubble? See, they are speculating that Varun Chakravorty would have
05:00
contracted it during a scan at the hospital. See, that actually shows the vulnerability of a bio
05:06
bubble. See, a bio bubble doesn't mean that you can be there 100% all the time, there could be an
05:11
occasion where you have to come out of it and therein lies the risk. So, which is why I don't
05:18
think either they postpone it, like call it a pause, say we will stop it for now and maybe
05:28
three months down the line when things improve, we could restart it or go ahead with it. But
05:36
I don't think there has been any occasion where an IPL match has been
05:43
paused for any reason or called off for any reason. So my gut feeling is that they
05:49
obviously, CI will go ahead and finish this tournament. Yes, in fact, to my mind, I think
05:55
this is the first instance in its 14 editions that when a match has been rescheduled.
06:03
So that is it. But these are circumstances which is beyond one's control. And talking about
06:11
the compactness of the bio bubble, I can tell you that the BCCI when they
06:17
released the SOP to the teams, they had a separate game plan for
06:23
allowing in players who are going for any hospital checks for any scans or any
06:29
admissions for any other reason. But these things can always happen. The issue is,
06:36
we have had a recent example at the Pakistan Super League where suddenly the
06:43
cases proliferated so much that they had to postpone the league and which they're going to
06:47
host in June. But IPL has got a bigger schedule. Its TV commitments are also different. So
06:55
if they try to stretch it beyond May 30, it's still too early firstly to discuss because there
07:01
have been just two cases and cases like this have been appearing in other sporting events as well.
07:08
Outside in Europe, football is continuing in full steam. So we need to take this as a one-off case.
07:15
And I'm sure BCCI will again, take a look at their if there are any
07:25
shortcomings or anything that need to be managed because they're following a template here,
07:30
following a template but asymptomatic cases can always be there.
07:37
True but this also means that nothing is foolproof. So which means how much ever you
07:44
try to contain it, see if you look at the cases around you, so the chance of contracting is
07:52
very very high. So if they had to do something about it, they should have done it earlier. It's
07:58
too late in the game to do, too late in the tournament to do anything and I don't think
08:02
there's so much at stake and none of the stakeholders would want the tournament to be
08:06
paused now. So I think the tournament will go ahead. Yes, see you can make out that all the
08:13
stakeholders are extremely cagey. I mean, I can share with you the fact that the next two
08:19
leagues are going to take place in Calcutta and Bangalore where the situation is not good.
08:25
When the IPL team came down to do the final recce, of course, the team had
08:32
always been here since mid-March but when Mr. Hemang Amin and others came down, it was a
08:39
completely low-key affair. They were happy with the arrangements, that's about
08:46
it. For four teams, they've just kept hidden and only one practice venue
08:52
where they'll be alternating. One team will go out, there'll be sanitization and then only the
08:57
next team will come in, something which we saw in the UAE as well. So there is a certain amount
09:04
of tentativeness which is crept in, we can't deny that. All we can hope is that
09:10
the number of cases don't go out of control, so that the tournament can be held.
09:16
But I think there is an impact beyond IPL. This will, I think,
09:25
make the Indian Cricket Board rethink about their T20 World Cup plans.
09:31
Now, which means there's a high probability of the World Cup coming to UAE. This could
09:38
perhaps tip the balance in UAE's favor. Yes, see, I mean, it's not for nothing that the ICC
09:47
had kept UAE as a standby along with Sri Lanka, they did it last year when they decided to
09:53
postpone the tournament and then for this next 21, 22, 23, they have got each of the
10:00
World Cups. Like these two years, we have got two T20s, 23, of course, is the 50-over World Cup.
10:06
So, I mean, while I understand that there is still time, but one of the senior
10:12
BCC officials have already gone on record about UAE being the standby venue. And
10:19
yes, I mean, they have shown that they can pull it off. But one step at a time, let us see because
10:27
the IPL was clearly a trial case for them. And we have got nearly a month of the tournament
10:35
left so far. So one has to just keep their fingers crossed and see how it goes from here.
10:41
And along with that, you know, you cannot, whether India is being able to bug the train or,
10:48
you know, at some point, at least it reaches the peak, and cases start coming down,
10:54
that would give some kind of a mental solace to people and the fans that okay,
11:00
the nation is now ready for cricket.
11:04
Yeah, what you said is perfect. I mean, that is the point of it, because
11:10
there is a direct correlation between the cases in India and any activity in India,
11:16
whether it is IPL or anything else for that matter. When the number of cases are so high,
11:24
that means the chance of spreading is also equally high. So not just the feasibility,
11:33
the very logic of holding an event of this magnitude, again, beggars belief. But also,
11:38
having said that, like you said, it's a half way through the tournament, there's no going back.
11:42
And the only way you can see is forward. But that forward path is, I'm sure, players will be very,
11:50
very jittery about the whole thing. But I think the IPL will go ahead and finish the tournament.
12:00
Right. So we leave it at that. We hope, we wish that the players recover in time, and the cases
12:08
should be largely asymptomatic. And keeping our fingers crossed, as far as the rest of IPL is
12:14
concerned. We will be on top of what's happening and bring back to you. Follow the IPL at
12:21
gulfnews.com. Thank you, Shah. Thank you, Adam. Thank you, everybody.
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