BCCI looking at multiple venues for IPL 2019

BCCI looking at multiple venues for IPL 2019: Reports of IPL 2019 being conducted on multiple venues are currently doing the rounds.

With the IPL auction for the 12th season of the Indian Premier League done and dusted now, all eyes have moved on whether the cash-rich tournament will be played in India or on any overseas venue.

While there was an update regarding the Indian players not having the option to skip the IPL despite the looming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, it is high time that there is one with respect to the venue.

The reason behind BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) mulling over venues is that the General Elections are slated to happen in the country during almost the same time as the IPL. The same reason had forced the tournament to be played in South Africa and UAE (partially) in 2009 and 2014 respectively.

In which has come as a fresh development in the form of a report in The Economic Times, BCCI is looking at four options as far as the venue is concerned and might also advance the event to March-April.

“While the effort is to keep the entire tourney in India, a lot will depend on the dates of the general elections. Of course Star India and the franchises want the league to be in India, so do the advertisers,” a source close to BCCI was quoted as saying.

If further reports are to be believed, BCCI have shortlisted four options to conduct the tournament – a) where all the teams travel together to all the venues, with 5-8 venues for a total of 60 matches b) organizing matches in smaller and non-conflicted stadiums within the country c) conducting some matches in India and rest in the UAE (like in 2014) d) holding the entire competition in South Africa (like in 2009).

Adhering to the Supreme Court’s order, BCCI will have to maintain a 15-day gap between the IPL final and India’s first match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. While there have been widespread murmurs of IPL starting in the last week of March, one shouldn’t be surprised if the whole tournament is further preponed.

“We are also planning to advance the whole league to March-April, like in 2010 so that it can finish ahead of elections and there is a good rest period for the players before ICC World Cup,” one of the sources said.

“IPL will have to be advanced as captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri have asked for a minimum of two-week rest period ahead of the World Cup for fast bowlers. They have raised this demand during their meetings with the Committee of Administrators (CoA) as well as BCCI board members,” he concluded.

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