IPL 2021: Indian Premier League to resume from 3rd Week of Sept, Matches to be held in UAE, confirms BCCI

IPL 2021 to Resume in UAE: As per the latest update, the BCCI i.e. Board of Cricket for Control in India, has announced that the Indian Premier League T20 tournament will resume again from 3rd Week of September 2021. The Board has also confirmed that keeping in mind the safety of the players, the cricket tournament would be held in UAE. Earlier in the year, the IPL 2021 tournament was suspended mid-way after 29 games due to surge in COVID-19 case numbers as part of the 2^nd wave of the pandemic in India.

NEWS 🚨 : BCCI to conduct remaining matches of VIVO IPL in UAE.

More details here - https://t.co/r7TSIKLUdM #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/q3hKsw0lkb

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 29, 2021

Likely to start from 20^th Sept

The BCCI Vice President Mr Rajiv Shukla informed media persons that the remainder of the season will be held in the UAE. He also added that for has now the season will resume from the third week of September and that the detailed schedule for the same would be notified by the BCCI soon. On the other hand, media reports have also hinted that  IPL 2021 will resume in UAE from 19^th or 20^th September 2021 onwards, but officially the dates are yet to be announced by the board.

Matches to be held at 3 Venues

Similar to last year, the BCCI is likely to use the three venues available in UAE to hold the pending IPL matches 2021. The remaining games will be spread across three venues -- Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi as per reports. While another challenge that BCCI might encounter for resumption of IPL 2021 would be the availability of foreign players for the tournament. To resolve the matter, BCCI is likely to connect with various foreign Cricket Boards to convince them to send players for the tournament in September 2021. Reports have hinted that Australian players are more likely to re-join the tournament in September while availability of England and New Zealand players remain unconfirmed.

No Decision on T20 World Cup

Another tournament which is around the corner is the T20 World Cup which was scheduled to be held in the country this year. However, as of now, BCCI has not taken any decision about holding the tournament in the light of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country. The BCCI has asked the ICC to give them one month's time to take a call on the venue for the showpiece event.