The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has zeroed in on the dates for the resumption of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021).
According to the reports, IPL 2021 will resume from September 19 and the tournament final will take on October 15 in UAE. The recent development has surfaced after the talks between the BCCI and the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), ANI reported.
“The discussions went really well and with ECB already giving us the oral nod to host the event ahead of the BCCI SGM, it was about closing the deal over the last week. The first game after the season resumes will be held on September 19 while we will have the final on October 15. The BCCI was always keen on a 25-day window to finish the remaining matches,” a BCCI official said ANI.
Though the window doesn’t support the presence of the foreign players, BCCI seems confident about the presence of the overseas players at the tournament. BCCI is also open to having a dialogue with the foreign boards to mark the availability of the foreign players.
“The discussions have started and we are keeping fingers crossed that the foreign players will be mostly available. If a couple of them do not manage to turn up, we shall then decide on the future course of action. But keeping fingers crossed for now and hoping to have an action-packed end to the 14th edition in UAE,” the official said.
“What we were made aware after the BCCI SGM is that the board will be speaking to the foreign boards and check on the availability of the foreign cricketers. We are confident that the BCCI will find the best possible solution and honestly it is a matter of the BCCI officials speaking to the respective board officials, so we should wait to hear from the board on this,” he further added.
“Yes, if we do end up missing some of the foreign stars, that is an area which would need some attention when it comes to picking replacements as the foreign players are also integral to the teams. Team balance can go for a toss, so keeping fingers crossed on that one,” the franchise official said.
