Discussions to be held around discuss IPL bio-bubble norms, crowds, hosting of the ICC event among other things
Shah’s contingent comprises Arun Dhumal (board treasurer), Jayesh George (board joint secretary), Hemang Amin (BCCI’s interim chief executive officer) and Dhiraj Malhotra (BCCI’ general manager of operations and tournament director for T20 World Cup).
In its talks with the ECB, the BCCI is expected to firstly get the approval for hosting the IPL from the UAE government. The discussions are also likely to be feature the preparedness of the three UAE venues – Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah – along with the mandatory requirement for creating the tournament bubble for the eight IPL teams.
With players arriving from different parts of the world, and not just India, both boards would also look at the necessary quarantine requirements that need to be satisfied before the BCCI finalise the standard operating procedures for the IPL.
One other significant point likely to be discussed is around the vaccination for all those that would be part of the IPL bubble. Recently, the Abu Dhabi government approved the hosting of the remainder of the PSL on the condition that all six teams and rest of the stakeholders that would be part of the tournament bubble needed to be vaccinated.
T20 World Cup moving to the UAE?
The presence of the entire top wing of the BCCI in Dubai can be seen as first move by the BCCI to shift the T20 World Cup to the UAE, which had been named as a cover for India. The ICC has not yet announced the final itinerary for the the 16-team World Cup.
While India are currently hosts for the event, the state of the Covid-19 pandemic and the suspension of IPL has triggered strong doubts over the country’s readiness.
The main reason for that is the lucrative sum involved: every match in an ICC global event is worth about US$250,00-300,00 for the hosting board. With 45 matches, that is a massive amount of money.
The other point for discussion would be in case the UAE ends up hosting both the IPL and T20 World Cup, can the venues handle two back-to-back marquee events and the fitness of the pitches. A total of 76 matches will be played in case both the IPL and the T20 World Cup are played in the UAE excluding the warm-up matches for the latter.
Both boards will want to consider the prospecr of opening the IPL to the crowd. In 2020, when the entire IPL was hosted in the UAE, the BCCI had opted not to allow crowds. The PSL in Abu Dhabi has been confirmed to be played behind closed doors.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo