IPL 2021: England Counties Offer to Host Remainder of Tournament in September

A group of English counties have offered to host the rest of the Indian Premier League 2021 in September. The MCC, Surrey, Warwickshire and Lancashire, who are based at Lord’s, The Kia Oval (both London), Edgbaston (Birmingham) and Emirates Old Trafford (Manchester) have reportedly written to the England and Wales Cricket Board to extend their invitation to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, as per a report in ESPN Cricinfo.

The same can be discussed at a virtual ICC meeting of the national chief executives which is scheduled for today. As the T20 World Cup could be shifted from India to the UAE in October-November window because of the Covid-19 crisis in the country, the counties have proposed that hosting the event in England will help the BCCI as well as the ICC to keep the UAE pitches fresh for the T20I showpiece. Furthermore, it will also broaden UK’s market for the IPL.

IPL has been thus far been hosted in South Africa in 2009 and UAE (first half of 2014 season and 2020 season due to Covid-19 pandemic). Meanwhile, it has also been reported that the Indian board is targeting the September window to complete the rest of the matches of the 14th season of the IPL.

However, the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had earlier stated that it is difficult to comment on the same and they will need to plan accordingly. It is expected that even if the tournament is organised in the second half of the year, it will have to be played overseas as India has been hit hard by the second wave of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, it will be difficult for BCCI to find a window in a jam-packed International schedule. India will complete their tour of England on September 14 but the other country players will have their national duties.

IPL was postponed indefinitely on Tuesday after a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.