Reports: BCCI mulling over staging entire Indian T20 League 2022 in Mumbai

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has started to look for alternative plans to host the upcoming Indian T20 League (ITL) 2022 following the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. On Thursday (January 6), India reported one lakh positive cases. BCCI are now mulling over hosting the entire IPL in Mumbai to limit the travel. Notably, Mumbai has three venues to stage the tournament.

Earlier, the Board had postponed Ranji Trophy and a few other domestic tournaments due to the recent COVID outbreak in the country. The upcoming mega auctions due to be held in Bangalore is also one of the major pointers discussed. According to reports, the event might be shifted to another date.

The situation is not new to BCCI as in 2021, the IPL had to be suspended midway in India due to a rise in cases in the bio-bubble. The board eventually hosted the event in UAE in September-October 2021. However, this time the board has not thought of UAE as an alternative option to host IPL 2022.

“The BCCI is also preparing a Plan B for the league. With the growing number of Covid-19 cases in the country, there may be a possibility that the BCCI will utilise only Mumbai as an IPL centre. At this stage, two options are on the table – 10 centers or just three centers (the Wankhede, CCI, and DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai).

“Going back to UAE has not yet been thought of by the Board officials as yet. However, the option of advancing the starting date by week — from April 2 to March 25 – is also being considered, the purpose of it being to have fewer double-headers and day games,” a report in Cricbuzz read.