Mumbai Indians on Friday launched the first campaign to win three straight Indian Premier League titles at an empty stadium in Chennai, as the epidemic remained a dark shadow over the tournament. His rival Royal Challengers Bangalore have two of the four players in the league who have tested positive in the safe team bio-bubble, and many have exposed the stress of going into a new eight-week lockdown. With cases rising again in India, Bangalore’s Devdutt Padikkal and Daniel Symes, Delhi Capitals spin star Axar Patel and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Nitish Rana have been sidelined after catching the virus.
Ten ground staff at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai have also tested positive.
All eight teams are in a tight bio bubble for the tournament, which will conclude on 30 May.
They include the world’s top cricket stars, including Ben Stokes of England and Steve Smith of Australia.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed each team as the bubble integrity manager in the police.
India captain Virat Kohli spoke about the stress of “bubble life” after India’s series against England, when he said the players were becoming “cooked”.
Kohli said, “The future needs to be seen in the future, because playing in a ‘bubble’ for two to three months is going to be very difficult.”
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who made the controversial remarks, said Indian players face epidemic stress better than foreign stars, adding that disruption is expected to ease once the tournament starts.
“Once you’re in a bubble nothing happens,” he said.
Ganguly also found that when the IPL was held in the UAE last year, “but everything was fine once the tournament started,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by the Indian media.
“no fears”
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan told AFP that he had no concerns about the tournament, which is to be held in six stadiums.
“The integrity managers are there and we have no fear,” Viswanathan told AFP.
Foreign players, including England batsman Johnny Bairstow, believe that the IPL will work well for the T20 World Cup, which will take place in India in October and November.
“It would be a great opportunity to play on different grounds that we could potentially play for the T20 World Cup,” said Bairstow, who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Chris Morris of South Africa emerged as the most expensive player in the tournament when he was bought by Rajasthan Royals for $ 2.25 million.
Morris, who last played an international match for South Africa in 2019, said the focus on the World Cup would help him.
“Others will hope that the World Cup will be focused and that their focus will shift away from the IPL and we can jump on it,” Morris said.
“Personally, I am not worried about the World Cup, I am working here to win the match and hopefully will insist on winning the trophy in the IPL.”
Promoted
There are several controversies, including corruption in the IPL, to emerge as the number one T20 league of the IPL in 2008.
In 2013, Chennai and Royals were suspended for two seasons due to a spot-fixing scandal.
Topics mentioned in this article
.
Leave a Reply