How IPL Will Happen Amidst Pandemic?



The 14th season of Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) is almost upon us. The season will kick off on 9th April when the defending champions Mumbai Indians will lock horns against Captain Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Alike the last edition even in this edition we would see the players in their respective team’s bio bubbles. As last year we saw IPL was held in UAE due to the surging increase of the COVID-19 cases in India.

IPL During Pandemic

In the BCCI meeting in December,2020 considering the fact of decreasing cases of COVID-19 cases in India they decided to have this edition of IPL in India and even to have a 50% capacity crown in the stadiums.

But after the Auction-2021 on 18th February where you saw some record breaking bids going on and even some new faces what we expect to see in this year’s IPL; we saw a second wave of Coronavirus expanding its wings there was a little doubt whether again the IPL would be taken out of India. 

Venues

But BCCI stuck to their decision and hence decided to have some special arrangements for this year’s IPL. Like this year the tournament would be played in a little different style alike the other seasons as no team would get any Home & Away games. 

The matches will take place at six venues in India - Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, New Delhi, and Kolkata. All the matches will be played in these venues with no Fans in the stadiums with the Knock-out phase of the tournament is set to be played in the Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmadabad on 30th May.

Despite all these excitement of Fans and even the players that finally IPL is back in India there is a constant threat of the second wave of COVID-19. As some of the experts have already came out loud with an argument about the insecurities of the health of players.

Pandemic in India

India is on the brink of overtaking Brazil to climb to second place on the global list of countries with the highest number of Covid-19 cases. Currently India is inching swiftly towards the 13-million mark. Is India safe then to host IPL 2021, which the ICC is viewing as a dry run for the men's T20 World Cup, which the country is scheduled to host later this year? There is no definitive answer.

The IPL bubble has already proved vulnerable, with a growing number of positive and asymptomatic cases. Uncertainty is the byword for the IPL, which will be played behind closed doors for the second time. The 2020 edition in the UAE was one of the most-watched sporting events globally in the absence of other live content. This time there is much more at stake.

The 2020 IPL was the first time the eight teams had experienced life in a biosecure bubble. Since it was the first time most of them were playing cricket since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 as a pandemic in March 2020, players began the IPL with gusto. 

Most teams had booked luxury hotels in the UAE and some had even hired private beaches where teams could relax and switch off to recharge. While their movement was restricted, team-bonding sessions helped players and coaches spend more time together and gain a more intimate understanding of each other.

Nonetheless, some bubble fatigue did set in, and it may even have affected the performance of several teams in the second half of the tournament. Even the Capitals, despite making the final, struggled to sustain the winning rhythm they had set during the first half. Barring the Mumbai Indians, no other team was consistent. The monotony of the bubble life eventually took a toll on all teams.

The fatigue will be more pronounced this time around. Three Australian players have pulled out, and numerous players from around the world are coming into the IPL having spent months in different bubbles and served hard quarantines in different hotels across different continents. It will not be easy.

As the IPL itinerant Glenn Maxwell says, players miss "normal conversations" while living the "sheltered" life of a bubble, which he describes as a "never-ending nightmare". It's not an isolated view. Towards the end of their 2020-21 Australia tour, there was certainly some restlessness among India's players around the restrictions of the bubble.

The size of the bubble will also be smaller for most teams this year. Barring Mumbai, who have booked a beachfront property in Chennai, the other teams will have to make do with luxury hotels, some without terraces, most with swimming pools but only for recovery sessions.

Caravan Schedule

All these challenges, needless to say, will be exacerbated by the ongoing surge in Covid-19 cases across India. For the first time the IPL will follow a caravan schedule. Each team will play a set of matches at one venue before moving to the next one. The fact that teams will play in the same venue consecutively could help them prepare better and get used to the conditions. 

There could be more continuity in team selection too, with teams possibly looking to change their style of play only when they move to new venues. It makes the competition more fun and equal as there’ll hardly be any kind of home advantage.

Even in this situation of so many doubts and all still there’s a positive vibe about the tournament as the fans are eagerly waiting to chew on popcorns sitting on their cough enjoying the yearly carnival of Cricket. 

As the 52 days long Cricket extravaganza is set to commence on 9th April we wish all the teams Good Luck and hope they stay Healthy Fit and Fine.


Written by - Gourav Chowdhury

Edited By - Nidhi Verma