Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the bio bubble that the players and support staff of IPL 13 were in, the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly said that the cricketing body pulled off a great tournament. The BCCI Chief even said there was scepticism whether the tournament would be completed or not. Empty stadiums which were part of strict COVID-19 protocols still made it possible for all 8 teams to win an average of 6 out of 14 matches.
With two matches to go including the finals in Dubai International Cricket Stadium on November 10th, Ganguly thanked all players of the IPL players and franchises who were part of the 53 day extravaganza over two months. “The world need sport, the world needed life to get back to normal. The entire BCCI team, not just the office-bearers, the employees and staff who work on the ground, they have been in Dubai for the last 2 and half months have pulled off a fantastic thing. The final is not finished yet but I think it was important for BCCI because the IPL is a huge asset for BCCI. From that point of view, we have pulled off a great thing.” Sourav Ganguly told a TV channel.
The IPL was scheduled to take place in March but was deferred indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. The final decision on IPL being moved to UAE came after the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia was postponed which allowed the much awaited tournament to take up the slot.
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Ganguly added, “We did not know whether we would complete this tournament because there was never a bio-bubble created in the past. We took a lot of understanding from the way England hosted the series in England. But this had far more risk, because that was bilateral and here it was about 300 people in Dubai.”
“All in one place, although the Covid numbers in the UAE was much lesser but still you needed one player or one person from the group to get infected. IT happened at the start with CSK. It was a bit of a scare for all of us whether this will go through. I spoke to Jay multiple times and he was also worried. We have done it but if something goes wrong, what will happen? But luckily, it has been good so far.” Explained the BCCI President.
