The IPL postponement will have a ripple effect on the organisation of T20 World Cup
The indefinite postponement of Season 14 of the Indian Premier League 2021 raises several questions. Will it resume? How will it resume? What about the Twenty20 World Cup? If India can’t organise an IPL during the time of coronavirus, how can they host the World Cup?
If the Indian cricket board is keen, there’s still a way to resume the IPL. And the World Cup in India may be challenging, but there are solutions. Mr Cricket UAE Anis Sajan and Gulf News editors discuss the options for the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #IPL #COVID19
The indefinite postponement of Season 14 of the Indian Premier League 2021 raises several questions. Will it resume? How will it resume? What about the Twenty20 World Cup? If India can’t organise an IPL during the time of coronavirus, how can they host the World Cup?
If the Indian cricket board is keen, there’s still a way to resume the IPL. And the World Cup in India may be challenging, but there are solutions. Mr Cricket UAE Anis Sajan and Gulf News editors discuss the options for the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #IPL #COVID19
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00:00We have the BCCI as well as the board has the capacity and the money to keep all these
00:06people under a biosecure bubble.
00:08Not that they have not done the effort, but I'm not sure whether they have kept a proper
00:12vigilant to ensure that everybody is in the bubble and it has not been breached.
00:17Hi guys and welcome to Straight Back, once again we are here with Anas Sajjan, Mr Cricket
00:32UAE and Shyam Krishna from Gulf News and Matt Smith and we are here to talk about a very
00:39concerning development that we have had in the IPL which is indefinitely postponed at
00:47the moment and we don't really know what is going to happen so we will go straight across
00:51to Anas and what is the take on the development over the past 24-48 hours?
00:56Thank you Matt and hello Shyam.
00:59Yesterday's match between RCB was called off, it was a sad sign for the fans but today's
01:08news must have made them more gloomy.
01:11What happened today was the final nail in the coffin when the IPL board decided that
01:17the IPL has been called off indefinitely and we don't know probably when the next window
01:23is going to come for it.
01:25And Shyam, obviously there have been a few tell-tale signs that this might have been
01:30on the cards but it kind of snowballed fairly quickly and we came to a very quick decision
01:36by the IPL.
01:37In my personal opinion it was always coming because you can have the bubbles but how secure
01:44is the bubble is the issue because given the rate of transmission in India and it's been
01:51spreading fast and it's not isolated to one or two venues across the country so this was
01:56coming.
01:57Only thing the IPL guys refused to see it because they were more keen on getting the
02:02tournament away because this was a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.
02:05So they have to get it right.
02:06If they get it right only then they can think of the T20 World Cup.
02:12Now in this case they had to get it done and finally, I mean it was not a surprise for
02:18me to see the bubble breached because there are far too many variables when you are playing
02:22across six venues and flying across the country this was bound to happen.
02:27We have seen previous protocols being very well adhered to in the UAE with Formula One,
02:37the cricket, tennis, were there abject failures here do you think in keeping the bubble secure?
02:47Without a doubt Matt, you see the alarm bells rang for the IPL organisers even before the
02:54tournament started.
02:55A couple of players had already been tested like Aksar Patel and I can't remember the
02:59other player, Nitish Rana, before they went into the bubble.
03:07Moreover the groundsmen at the Wankhede Stadium had also caught Covid.
03:12So that alarm bells should have been loud enough for the organisers to understand that
03:17what all things could come in the near future because it's not a small tournament and like
03:23Shyam mentioned it's put into six cities.
03:26So that was an initial alarm bell which had rung.
03:31At that time they could have probably taken little more extra steps to plug the gaps.
03:36Now my discussion here will be a little longer Shyam but I am sure you would like to add
03:40some points to it.
03:42The first point when you are having a tournament across six cities you need to travel from
03:48one city to another city.
03:49Like the first few matches were held in Mumbai and in Chennai.
03:54So the matches went off smoothly because they were all in that bubble.
03:57But the moment that one team went from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and the other team went from
04:03Chennai to Delhi, there is where you are risking the players even though if you are going in
04:09your charter flight, you are wearing your PE kit because this virus is in the air.
04:15When I say it is in the air, all the people who are running the charter flight are not
04:21a part of the bubble.
04:23So this is one very important point and I probably can say with conviction one of the
04:27main reasons the IPL in UAE got successful because transport was on land surface where
04:35they were travelling by bus from Dubai to Sharjah, Sharjah to Abu Dhabi and vice versa.
04:39In this case, you cannot be going by bus from Mumbai to Delhi or Delhi to Chennai.
04:45You need to take a flight.
04:49So this is one major cost which is triggered or probably the bubble has been burst.
04:56And Shyam, obviously as you said there, it is quite clear what I was just about to touch
05:02on is even though they travelled between three different venues in the UAE, there was no
05:08having to go through major transport hubs.
05:11They were doing it on secure buses.
05:14Was that the major failure here?
05:17This is one of the failures and that is a very, very significant one because if you
05:21look at the timing of the breach, you can safely assume this could be one of the areas.
05:31Then another area which they, I think I read in one of the website or news websites, they
05:37say that, like Anish was talking about the flights, the same goes for people, the cooks,
05:46the people who serve them, the butlers, everything.
05:49Some teams, they carry their own cooks with them and the butlers with them which makes
05:53sense but not all teams do that.
05:56So they would expect a hotel because the hotels are given a standard operating procedures
06:01and told them, okay, you have to adhere to that.
06:03But who is overlooking that or who is supervising that?
06:06The hotel finally has employees and these employees are not part of the bubble.
06:12So one spec is enough, right?
06:15So it could have come from anybody then.
06:17And that's it.
06:18It literally just needs that one little chink in the armour as to which you said the bubbles burst.
06:23Like Shyam mentioned about the cooks, you know, I still believe the hotels must have
06:28kept the cooks in the hotel itself.
06:32But the groundsmen, like who are doing the watering or making sure that the ground is
06:37ready.
06:38Now as I mentioned in my earlier talk that in Mumbai this had already happened.
06:42Now what I understood from the Delhi, one of the important people who said that, no,
06:48the players who got tested in the Delhi stadium, they were not present at the day when this
06:53news broke out.
06:54But I'm not sure whether all these groundsmen were given a proper room or a bio-secured
07:01area where they could be staying like the players are staying.
07:05Because who is keeping an eye on these groundsmen, whether they are going and meeting their relatives
07:10out.
07:11These are small things but very important thing because the groundsman comes in touch
07:16with the players because he's a part of, you know, the association.
07:21We hear from day-to-day in the tabloids in the UK about even footballers themselves that
07:28are breaking these violations.
07:30So how is it possible to keep a cap on everybody from the guy mowing the lawn to the guy that's
07:37in charge of the floodlights in this bio-bubble?
07:41I mean, you're talking about thousands of people now, aren't you?
07:46But it's not impossible.
07:47You see, like Shyam mentioned that they wanted to have this tournament done and dusted because
07:54they wanted to have the World Cup happening in India.
07:57So when you have such a big plan of a World Cup happening, you got to ensure that you
08:01plug all the holes.
08:02Now whether it is the groundsmen or whether there are thousand people, it's not a big
08:06deal.
08:07We have the BCCI as well as the board has the capacity and the money to keep all these
08:12people under a bio-secure bubble.
08:14Not that they have not done the effort, but I'm not sure whether they have kept a proper
08:19vigilant to ensure that everybody is in the bubble and it has not been breached.
08:23Okay, now this brings me on to the next question which is essential, where do they go from
08:28here?
08:29Can this be resurrected in India?
08:31Can this reach a successful conclusion in India?
08:35Well, I'm afraid not at the moment.
08:38I would just like to add one more point to your Shyam and Matt.
08:41It's the third point.
08:43We heard about the first day, rather yesterday, about Varun Chakravorty testing positive and
08:49it came out from one of the sites which said that he had gone for a test and he went through
08:57the green channel.
08:58Now what's the green channel?
08:59He goes through the ambulance or the bus or the van provided by the league.
09:04But he is going in the PE kit and in the ambulance.
09:07But when he meets a doctor who is doing the test for the shoulder or whatever problem
09:13he had, he's that person in a bubble, he's meeting so many patients.
09:17So that is, I am a bit surprised and perplexed that you are talking at one side that he's
09:22going through a green channel and the doctor, even though he's in PE kit wearing a mask,
09:27but he comes across so many patients.
09:30So in this case of a virus, it does not catch immediately.
09:34It comes to you or contracts with you maybe after a few days.
09:38And that is what has happened in the case of I'm afraid with Varun Chakravorty and which
09:42went on to his colleague Sandeep Warrior and the rest of the team.
09:49As I said, where do we go from here, Shal?
09:54I mean where do we go from here because if you look at it, it is not a cancellation.
09:58They have cleverly worded it, they are calling it indefinite suspension, which means it could
10:04be restricted at some point in time.
10:06So restricting in India, I don't see it happening immediately or not in this year at least.
10:13So if you don't finish this league in this year, it ceases to be IPL 2021.
10:17So the other option with them is to hold it in the EU.
10:22Now even whether it is in India or in the EU, the cricket calendar is packed.
10:30So they have to look for windows, I mean windows as in areas where there are not any international
10:37matches.
10:38So immediately what happens now is India goes to England, then you have the World Test Championship,
10:45then they come back here, that's a September window open.
10:49After that I think we have New Zealand coming over to India, then after that it's a small
10:53window before we go into the World Cup.
10:56Now these two windows can be used, but then you are going into a series of double headers
11:01if you have to finish in time.
11:02So whether it happens in India or in the EU, you have to do that.
11:08But I don't think, given the rate of transmission and the COVID situation in India, I don't
11:13think it's going to happen in India.
11:15If it happens, if they have keen on finishing in, it has to be the EU.
11:19So either way it's a logistical nightmare, you've got to fit it, and even maybe split
11:23it over two windows as you say.
11:26Yes, that is another key area.
11:30If it's a small window, you have to get all these players back and put them into a bio-bubble
11:35for at least two weeks.
11:36So two weeks of your window is gone, which means that window is not enough to run it.
11:44So you have that.
11:45So where do we go from here?
11:47Like Shyam mentioned, there's a window in September, but as he also added that if I
11:52have to get a player, he needs to be at least a week to ten days of quarantine.
11:56So that ten days goes away in a strict quarantine, just to ensure that the players are not positive
12:04and when they finally reach the ground or meet the other players, they are fully negative.
12:09So that ten days goes away.
12:10Now, if you're talking about 31 matches still pending to be played from the incompleted
12:15IPL, and then you talk about holding an IPL, rather the World Cup, which is almost around
12:2230 more games because you need to have a pre-qualifying games about the associate nations.
12:27So we have three grounds here in UAE, which is Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi.
12:31Now last year, they did manage to hold 60 matches.
12:35I'm sure UAE is capable of holding 60 matches.
12:38You just need to see how the wickets are going to behave.
12:40Will it be tired wickets or will it be wickets good enough to produce enough runs because
12:45T20 people want entertainment.
12:47People do not want slow and dead wickets where the ball doesn't come onto the bat as we saw
12:51in Chennai.
12:52And that's also not including, once we get into the later part of the year, rain sometimes
12:57happens here.
12:58So we could get a lot more trouble on the ground.
13:02That's a foresight.
13:03You know, if you have to have rain, you will have rain.
13:06But let's presume that the IPL finishes in September, which it will take at least a month
13:11by October.
13:12Because I remember last year when the IPL happened here, it started on September 10th
13:15and finished on November 10th.
13:18It was almost two months.
13:19Then the World Cup, the scheduled date for the World Cup is October end to November 14th.
13:24So how they can, you know, juggle with the dates and ensure that both the events can
13:28happen in UAE, we need to wait and watch.
13:31It's really a very tough ask.
13:34But not impossible.
13:35It's not impossible, but it is tough.
13:37If there's a will, there's a way.
13:38And if there's a checkbook, there's normally a way.
13:40But I think that the health of everybody involved is more paramount now and I think that's where
13:47we are at.
13:48Not obviously just the players and the people in the Biobubble, people in the hotels, but
13:52also in India as a whole, are we seeing maybe a slight movement that this is just a game
14:00and there are bigger things at play at the moment, then maybe this should be put to one
14:06side.
14:07I mean, I fully subscribe to that view because sport finally is entertainment.
14:12It's a distraction.
14:13It's a pastime.
14:15It is a passion for some.
14:19It is basically an entertainment for some people.
14:23But when you are up against COVID, it is a health crisis, really.
14:28So do you want to have a party in the midst of a pandemic?
14:32No, not for me.
14:35I mean, for me, that is inappropriate, insensitive and callous.
14:39In fact, I would say it's obscene.
14:42So I would say, although this happened by sheer accident or I would say accident because
14:50it was not planned in the sense, these cases showed up and they actually didn't foresee.
14:59It just happened.
15:01So it was a kind of blessing in disguise for IPL because otherwise, down the years, we
15:05look back at IPL and say that in the middle of a pandemic, you had a party.
15:09Some sort of callousness maybe around it.
15:12And just the one last thing that you just touched on there as well, the World Cup.
15:19Is that now pretty much assuring that it will come to the UEE or do we think that India
15:25will still try and push to host it?
15:28Before I touch upon the point about World Cup, whether it will come to UEE or India
15:32will still push for it.
15:33But like Shyam mentioned that in hindsight, it was a good decision taken by the board
15:40to call off the IPL finally because you are risking the life, not only of the players
15:45or the grounds people or the people, the stakeholders.
15:49So I think wise decision was taken when they realized that no, now they can't get this
15:55tournament done because there were cases and let me be very honest.
15:59This was forcing by a few players that the bubble is not secure.
16:03That's why they left.
16:04A lot of people like even me mentioned that it was fatigue.
16:07I don't think a player like a Zampa or Andrew Tai who gets an exposure like this will run
16:14away from this place, from the IPL saying that it is fatigue.
16:19It is probably forcing that no, there is danger because they did not find the bubble secure.
16:25Now coming to your point about that the IPL and the World Cup will come to UEE, at the
16:32moment UEE looks to the best venue for the ICC and I am sure ICC will also now will think
16:39twice whether to hand over to India to run the World Cup in India.
16:43The rights will be with India.
16:45Now whether they can run in India, as you said whether will they be able to run in India,
16:49it all depends how the turnaround happens about the cases coming down.
16:53Like we saw in Mumbai the cases have dropped drastically but you cannot have a World Cup
16:58only in Mumbai.
16:59It needs to be done in six cities.
17:00So there is a chance of a third wave coming which generally comes in November.
17:05So will they risk the ICC, we need to see.
17:07So the best venue would be UEE and if not UEE then would be Sri Lanka probably.
17:14Yeah, they are looking at Sri Lanka but I think having held an IPL here, I think they
17:19know how secure and they know this environment.
17:21It is tried and tested.
17:22And also the Covid situation in the UAE is very much under control and not just from
17:29the India point of view, you have several national teams and people from outside coming
17:33here.
17:34So which means the Covid situation is under control and it is also not more of a logistical
17:40place to come to.
17:41Yeah and not just that people feel secure because like Anish was saying about Adam Samba,
17:46he clearly said that this is the Bible was vulnerable.
17:50He went on, okay, he later went back on it but the thing is he spoke his mind the first
17:54time.
17:55Yes, he had the feelings.
17:56Yes, absolutely.
17:57And the fears are there.
17:58So that is essentially.
17:59So that fear is not here.
18:01Yes.
18:02Because we have had major events happening here like you had last year's IPL, then you
18:07had the European Tour of Golf, two events of the European Tour of Golf here.
18:12Then you had…
18:13Tennis.
18:14Yes, you had tennis in Abu Dhabi, you had tennis in Dubai.
18:16Then you had, recently you had the cycling tour.
18:17Yes, and also the Formula One.
18:18Yeah, and Formula One.
18:19So you have all the major events here.
18:20And they all went off without a hitch.
18:21And everything went off without a hitch.
18:22So to me, the best bet is UAE.
18:23And we are fortunate.
18:24You see, we have been all vaccinated here.
18:25When I say we, it means the people who are running the show will definitely be vaccinated.
18:26So that helps you build your immunity.
18:27Okay, the players definitely will be still vulnerable.
18:28But if you plug all the holes, when I say you, what is a bio-secure bubble?
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