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IPL 2021 is reportedly going to start on April 11 after the Vijay Hazare Trophy and a One-Day women’s tournament. The Board of Control of Cricket in India and the IPL GC have almost zeroed in on a tentative date.

According to a source tracking the developments closely confirmed that the final would be held on June 5 or 6. Buoyed by the successful hosting of the Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, the first of any cricket in India since March 2020, BCCI has now set itself on the path to host a couple of more domestic tournaments – the Vijay Hazare and a one-day tournament for women – in February and March, followed by the Indian Premier League (IPL) in April.

IPL 2021 May Start On 11th April After Series Against England Concludes

BCCI will conduct the 14th edition of the IPL 2021 at home and has earmarked the Wankhede, Brabourne Stadiums, DY Patil Stadium, Reliance Cricket Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium on the outskirts of Pune for the same.

The state-of-the-art Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, will also be considered for matches and is more likely to host the knockouts as the tournament moves towards the business end in the last week of May.

“The final decision will be taken by IPL GC but 11th April is the tentative date to start IPL 2021. The series against England finishes in March and players will get good break with 11th April start for IPL 14th”, said the BCCI official to TOI.

With the England series scheduled to end on March 28, it will give ample time to the cricketers to complete their commercial endorsements for their respective franchises playing IPL. The mini-auction is scheduled to take place in Chennai after the completion of the first two Tests in 18th February 2021.

IPL 2021 Will Be Held In India As It Is Safer Than UAE At Current Situation

Arun Dhumal, who is also on the IPL Governing Council, confirmed that the board BCCI is confident that it would be able to host IPL 2021 at home unlike the previous edition, which was held in the UAE due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Defending champions Mumbai Indians won IPL 2020.

“We are working on having the IPL in India and we are hopeful that we would be able to organize it. We are not even thinking of a back up also at this point in time, we are wanting to do it here,” he said.

“India is probably safer than UAE at this point. Hopefully, the situation remains stable and keep improving and we will have it here,” said Dhumal.

Meanwhile, UAE is experiencing a rise in Coronavirus cases. The seven-day average caseload in the UAE has gone up to 3743, up from 770 when the IPL 2020 began on September 19. India, much larger both in size and population, were recording 90,000 cases a day in September, but the numbers have now come down to below 15,000.