Virat Kohli & Co. might be returning to South Africa in a few months as BCCI has marked South Africa as an alternative venue to host IPL 2022 in case the Covid-19 situation doesn’t improve in the next few months. South Africa has hosted the IPL in 2009 when the tournament was moved out due to the general election in the country. The BCCI also identified Sri Lanka as another alternative since their time zone is similar to India’s one.
South Africa hosted the second edition of IPL in 2009
Since the Covid cases have been arising each day, the BCCI is mulling to move the cash riched league to another league. Earlier according to a report, there is a possibility that the whole tournament might be organized across 4 venues in Mumbai and Pune which would reduce the air time for players and players. But BCCI doesn’t want to take chances this time, given what happened last season when they had to move out the rest of the season to UAE.
UAE had hosted a previous couple of seasons for IPL during Covid-19 but BCCI is exploring the new options this around. South Africa has emerged out as a frontrunner as their time zone is 3 hours 30 minutes earlier than India so games will finish in time without sacrificing the prime time slot which the official broadcasters demand. The players often complain that matches going past midnight take a toll on their body.
“We can’t be dependent on UAE all the time so we decided to explore more options, South Africa’s time difference also works out well for the players,” a BCCI official said.
Notable that IPL 2022 will be a 10-team affair when a total of 74 matches are to be played so the BCCI doesn’t want to take any chance as cancelling it would be a huge loss to them. So the BCCI had already discussed the idea with the CSA.
“The place where the team was staying for the second Test is spread over several acres. There were walking tracks and even a pond on the property and that has made things easier for the players who for the last couple of years or so have been confined to their rooms on several overseas tours,” said a BCCI official.
Earlier the BCCI had to cancel all domestic tournaments including Ranji Trophy due to a sudden rise in Covid cases.
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