Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma
Sourav Ganguly has said that it won't be feasible for the BCCI to host the remaining matches of IPL 2021 in India, considering the COVID-19 crisis across the country.
A deadly second wave of coronavirus continues to rampage through India, with more than 4 lakh new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. Ganguly feels it's too early to finalize a slot to complete the lucrative T20 league.
IPL 2021 was indefinitely suspended earlier this week after multiple COVID-19 cases emerged in its bio-bubble. The tournament was put to a halt midway after four players -- Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Wriddhiman Saha, Delhi Capitals spinner Amit Mishra, and KKR's Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier -- tested positive for COVID-19 in the bio-bubble.
"India is supposed to go to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and five T20Is (in July). There are lots of organisational hazards like 14-day quarantine. It can't happen in India. This quarantine is tough to handle. Too early to say how we can find a slot to complete the IPL," said Ganguly in an interview with Sportsar.
Ganguly also said that the tournament would've been continued if any of the players didn't get infected, adding that the bio-bubble model and absence of crowds helped in curbing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
"We would have continued if there were no cases. We would have completed the IPL. The players were in the bubble, and there were no crowds at the venues. Players were not getting infected. Once the players got affected, we called it off. Look at the leagues going around the world. They have had COVID-19 cases, but they have continued."
Talking about the India-England series that didn't witness any players contracting the virus among the bio-bubble, Ganguly pointed the country's the then tally of infected cases.
"Because the numbers were down, and we had just two teams. The bio-bubbles were there. We had 760 players in the bio-bubble (during the domestic games), but the key was that the Covid numbers were down across the country – 7,000 a day. Now we have more than four lakh daily cases."
The BCCI president also confirmed that he'll be attending the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. India will take on New Zealand in the much-awaited final starting June 18 before locking horns with England in a five-Test series.
"It is a good time to be with the family (now) – Dona (his wife), Sana (his daughter), my brother’s family. But I will go to England for the WTC. Get away for a while. It’s going to be a tough series. Tougher than Australia," said Ganguly.
