IPL 2021 To Go On As Per Schedule: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly
Mumbai: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly on Sunday assured that everything will go on as per schedule in the upcoming IPL despite the resurgence of COVID-19 in the country.
Sourav’s confirmation comes after the Maharashtra government announced a weekend lockdown to curb the pandemic.
“Everything will go on as per schedule,” Ganguly told ANI.
Maharashtra will enter strict weekend lockdown from Friday 8 pm to Monday 7 am, said state Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik adding that essential services and transportation including buses, trains, and taxis will be allowed. The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting today in view of surging COVID-19 cases, he told reporters here.
Wankhede Stadium is set to host 10 IPL games this season from 10-25 April. The first match at the Mumbai Stadium is to be played between the Delhi Capital and Chennai Super Kings on 10 April. Four franchises – Delhi Capital, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals have established their base in Mumbai.
The fifth franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is also based in Mumbai currently, but they will soon move to Chennai to play their first match against SunRisers Hyderabad on April 11.
The BCCI is also thinking about the vaccination of the players before the IPL along with BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla, stating that the board will approach the health ministry for vaccination of the players.
“In order to cope with this coronavirus rise, I think the only solution is to get vaccinated. BCCI is also thinking on those lines that players should be vaccinated. Nobody knows when coronavirus is going to end and you can’t give a deadline that by this time frame, it will not be there so players can play easily. So, I think now will have to think over that. Vaccination should be done for the players also,” Shukla told ANI.
When asked if BCCI has written to the Health Ministry regarding players’ vaccination, Shukla said the BCCI is mulling over the idea and they will definitely get in touch with the ministry that players should be vaccinated.
(With ANI Inputs)
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