BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said that the board will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in India as it plans to organise the 2021 IPL in the country.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has revealed that he underwent 22 COVID-19 tests in the past four-and-a-half months, as he traveled to the United Arab Emirates on a number of occasions throughout the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Ganguly said that he had people testing positive for COVID-19 around him, which forced him to take multiple tests.
"I must tell you I have got tested 22 times in the last four and half months and not been positive even once, I have had cases around me, so that probably forced me to get tested myself," Ganguly said at a virtual media conference for a brand promotion.
"... I stay with elderly parents and I have travelled to Dubai and in the initial part, I was very worried, not just for me, but the community, you don't want to spread it to somebody else because people are looking up to you."
Ganguly also talked about India's upcoming tour of Australia, which begins on November 27. Team India left for Australia on November 11 and is currently in its last day of quarantine.
"...the players are fit and fine, Australia also doesn't have a very high number of COVID cases, the borders were closed for a while...they are still very, very tight on international travel, you have to do 14 days of hard quarantine, so the boys are ready to get onto the field," Ganguly said.
The BCCI President further talked about the successful completion of the 2020 edition of Indian Premier League, which took place between September 19-November 10 in the UAE.
"We had about 400 people staying in the bio-bubble, 30-40 thousand tests have happened over a period of two and half months to make sure that everyone is safe and healthy," he said.
"...it's a tournament for India. People spoke about the success of IPL, I told all of them that you must, you have to be in India to see what IPL is to India," he said.
Ganguly further said that the board will continue to assess the situation surrounding the next edition of the IPL, as the number of cases have risen sharply in the metro cities -- particularly in Delhi.
“We are very much trying because it is a tournament for India. People spoke about the success of the IPL, I told all of them that you have to be in India to see what IPL is to India,” Ganguly said.
"Our domestic season will start very shortly. England is touring India for four Test matches, three ODIs and five T20s, it is a lot easier having bi-laterals because the number of people are less," he said.
"When it gets to 8 teams, 9 teams, 10 teams, then it becomes a bit more difficult...we have to keep assessing the situation...lot of them are talking about a second wave," he said.
"I heard in Mumbai and Delhi, the numbers have gone up, so we have just got to be a bit careful and make sure everything is in order, so we will monitor it."
