Not UAE? BCCI contemplating staging IPL 2022 in Sri Lanka or South Africa as Plan B: Report

The IPL 2022 mega auction is set to be held in Bengaluru in mid-February, 2021. During the recent IPL General Council meeting, on Tuesday (January 11), some big decisions were made, such as Tata group becoming the title sponsor for the cash-rich league, auction dates and venues being confirmed, however, nothing was revealed about the schedule and venues for IPL 2022.

As per reports, the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI is monitoring the Covid-19 situation in India and have Plan B in mind as well. While BCCI wants the IPL to be held in India itself, the third wave of Covid-19 virus is knocking on the door and no one can predict how things pan out with regard to the virus spread in the coming days. Though BCCI have also been contemplating the idea of organising the cash-rich league in Maharashtra, the state is reporting the highest number of Covid cases at present. Hence, as per a report in Indian Express, the board will go ahead and organise the league in Sri Lanka or South Africa (as per their Plan B).

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“We can’t be dependent on UAE all the time so we decided to explore more options, South Africa’s time difference also works out well for the players,” said a BCCI official. 

“The place where the team was staying for the second Test is spread over several acres. There were walking tracks and even a pond on the property and that has made things easier for the players who for the last couple of years or so have been confined to their rooms on several overseas tours,” said an official.

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The last two editions of IPL have majorily been held in the UAE. IPL 2020 was entirely held in the Middle East whereas last year’s edition’s second leg was hosted in UAE. While Sri Lanka have never hosted an IPL season, SA were the hosts for IPL 2009. 

BCCI is willing to take the IPL to SA seeing how smoothly the ongoing India-Proteas Test series has gone by despite many doubting if the tour would go on, in early December 2021, after the Omicron spread in the rainbow nation.

For the unversed, the Omicron threat has already been nullified in the African nation, with the country also lifting restrictions that were imposed about a month ago.