IPL bosses suffer a big headache as Mumbai faces surge in Coronavirus cases

The Indian Premier League is facing continuous problems for being hosted in 2020. Things are worsened for the Board of Control for Cricket in India. There were talks that the entire IPL 2020 could be held in Maharastra but that seems unlikely at this moment. Mumbai the capital of Maharastra has three international level stadiums.

Wankhede stadium and Brabourne Stadium in South Bombay along with the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai would be great for the BCCI to host the IPL inside Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Interestingly, there are two more stadiums in Maharastra. The MCA International Stadium in Pune and VCA Stadium in Nagpur. With all this and several hotels in the city, IPL could have been hosted in the state.

But as it turns out, Maharastra is the worst affected state in the country. In fact, more than 53,000 positive COVID-19 cases are in Mumbai. Due to this, it seems BCCI has backtracked on the idea of having the tournament in the state. According to the report in Bangalore Mirror, IPL chairman Brijesh Patel has revealed that BCCI has been planning to host the IPL in October and November.

Mumbai itself is big trouble right now: BCCI official

However, this will only be possible if the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is shifted to some other time. The T20 World Cup event, which was last played in 2016, is scheduled to be held in Australia from October 18 to November 15 this year.

The IPL could have been played in Mumbai entirely, given the facilities. No other city in India has three international level grounds. A BCCI senior official has also said, “Mumbai could have solved a lot of our problems but the city itself is big trouble right now.”

Brijesh Patel has said that Mumbai may not be a viable venue for the tournament given the current circumstances. He said, “You have a problem there. Let’s see how the situation pans out. Foreign players are ready to undergo bio-security protocols. We will have the health and security measures in place. The first preference (to hold the tournament) is India.”

There have been offers made by the UAE and Sri Lanka for hosting the IPL, but it seems that BCCI is in favor of having the tournament in India. In fact, the league could adopt a behind the closed door solution as well.