IPL 2022 to start in last week of March, owners want matches in India, says Jay Shah

Categories: IPL 2022

      The BCCI is set to conduct the 2022 IPL from last week of March to end of May and efforts would be made to host the lucrative event in India as per the wishes of team owners, Board secretary Jay Shah said on Saturday.He also made it clear that the board's first preference is to hold the event in India.

    "The BCCI was always keen on staging the 2022 edition that will see two new teams ? Ahmedabad and Lucknow ? in India. I can tell you that we will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that IPL stays in India," Shah said.While the UAE and South Africa are back-up options as per sources who attended the meeting, Shah stressed that the health safety of all stakehoders including players, match officials is paramount for the board.

     "The BCCI has not compromised on the health and safety of its stakeholders in the past and will concurrently work on Plan B since the COVID-19 situation with new variants remains fluid.It is understood that the India players will also be exhausted after staying in three back-to-back bubbles in South Africa (away) and at home against West Indies and Sri Lanka.

    "The BCCI must take bubble fatigue of players into account if they start IPL in less than 10 days of completion of Sri Lanka tour," a BCCI source said.However, after Shah's statement, it looks like March 27 will be locked in.

Mumbai-Pune could be preferred venue in India, Ahmedabad for final

     It is also learnt that all the 10 IPL owners, including the two new teams from Lucknow and Ahmedabad, want India as the host country for the 2022 IPL, with Mumbai and Pune being the two preferred cities.Their second choice is the United Arab Emirates where the IPL has been organised thrice while the final option is South Africa where the mega event was held back in 2009.

     As reported in some quarters, Sri Lanka as a host was not even discussed in the meeting.As far as the dates of the mega auction is concerned, they remain February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru as per the original schedule.

"South Africa is the last option but as of now, we aren't even thinking of it as an option. It's the last resort. As far as entry of crowd is concerned, a call can't be readily taken. It will be taken closer to the tournament," the source added.