Highlights:
- On January 27th, the BCCI is hopeful of hosting IPL-2022 across Mumbai and Pune.
- The official announcement will be made on Feb-20th-2022.
- Back-up Venue is Cricket South Africa (CSA) will be decided based on Covid-19 situation in India.
Indian Premier League (IPL)-2022:
The IPL-2022 is a fifteenth season and it is a professional T20 Cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The fifteenth edition will see the expansion of the league, with the addition of two new franchises. In August 2021, the BCCI confirmed that two new franchises would join the IPL-2022 league. The new franchises names are Ahmedabad and Lucknow franchises. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is the defending champions of last season.
IPL Schedule and Venue-2022:
The IPL-2022 is scheduled to be played from April 02nd-2022 and end on June 03rd-2022. Since last two years, IPL had played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But, IPL-2022 is scheduled to be played in India – BCCI planning to conduct the IPL-2022 in Mumbai and Pune.
Mumbai to host IPL-2022:
In the meeting of BCCI officials on January 27th (Thursday), the IPL-2022 is all set to be hosted in Mumbai from March 27th. The reason behind this decision of BCCI is the continuously decreasing corona cases in the city. However, the final decision on this will be taken only on February 20, which is the deadline to announce the name of the venue.
According to a report, the BCCI has confirmed Mumbai as IPL venue as the matches will be hosted in 3 venues in and around Mumbai. The availability of multiple grounds in Mumbai and Pune will make it easier as the new season will have 10 teams, including 2 new teams — one from Ahmedabad and the other from Lucknow.
A BCCI sources told, “We aren’t looking beyond Mumbai so far. The third wave of the pandemic is on the wane and there’s no need to host the tournament overseas”.
Stadiums list in Mumbai – To host IPL-2022:
- In Mumbai’ three stadiums will be used to host IPL-2022 matches – Wankhede, Brabourne and DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai have already been shortlisted.
- If required Pune can also be considered as a venue.
- None of this requires any Air-Travel.
- The Bio-bubble is easy to maintain in and around these stadiums as top 5 star hotels are in vicinity.
Match in Mumbai – avoid air travel
The biggest advantage behind organizing IPL-2022 in and around Mumbai will be that the teams will not have to travel by air, which can be a major reason for the spread of corona. The report said that if needed, Bandra Kurla Stadium will also be used for training and practice of teams. Most of the home matches are played on this ground.
BCCI officially announce their decision:
The BCCI will wait till the IPL-2022 mega Auction. The IPL Governing Council is scheduled to meet franchises on the sidelines of IPL Auction. After this meeting, BCCI will officially announce the venue of IPL-2022 on February 20th-2022.
Back-up Venue:
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has also submitted an official proposal to host IPL-2022 in case of any Covid-19 pandemic or a last minute changes in India. The BCCI will keep the CSA proposal as ‘Safety option’ or Back-up venue.
