Amid Covid-19 concerns, IPL may shift entirely to Mumbai - Reports

Given the COVID-19 situation in India, it was only a matter of time before Coronavirus makes its presence felt. It did so after 29 games as Kolkata Knight Riders' Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier tested positive for the virus. Later, few members of the DDCA and CSK contingent also returned positive results. Several experts voiced their opinion in favour of postponing the IPL, the BCCI, however, has found a way out. According to reports, the BCCI is planning to shift the entire event to Mumbai.

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"Coming to the league itself, we are looking at moving base to Mumbai, but are awaiting clearance from the Maharashtra government and once that is done, we will be good to go. Should take us another couple of days to get the clearance," the BCCI source said.

However, the move is not as easy as it looks. The biggest challenge for the BCCI will be to create a secure bubble, which mainly entails finding hotels for the eight teams, which will take some time. Also, Mumbai's COVID situation is not that bright either.

Further, if the IPL has to shift to Mumbai, BCCI will have to postpone few matches to get the preparations done. This could mean that the IPL could stretch beyond May 30, which will have an impact on the upcoming World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand in Southampton. The ICC is currently negotiating quarantine norms with England for the members of both teams who are featuring in the IPL.

If the plan does go ahead, Wankhede, DY Patil and Brabourne stadium will be used as venues. Wankhede hosted 10 games of the IPL 2021 while the other two grounds were used for training purposes by various teams.