Indian Premier League T20 Cricket: Remainder of IPL 2021 in UAE - BCCI Announces Revised Schedule

Hello Cricket Lovers,

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When IPL 2021 started in April, we were all on cloud 9.

We were enjoying the matches and success of the team I support (Royal Challengers Bangalore) in a bigger way and I used to create a blog whenever possible about the team reviews and match results.

The IPL has to stop in early May when some of the players tested positive for Corona virus.

But, we have got good news for all the IPL lovers around the World!!!

Yes, the remaining IPL matches(31 in total it seems) will be held in last year's IPL venue i.e. United Arab Emirates where Mumbai Indians had lifted the trophy defeating First time finalists Delhi Capitals.

The main reason change in venue mentioned by BCCI in it's press release is that, the Country is still undergoing Corona Second wave and it also mentioned about the Indian monsoon season which extends till early October and could affect the matches considering the 8 PM start time in India.

Although the full details are still awaited, it is learned that the matches will be held in September and October with a tentative start date being 20th September with the venues being last year's IPL venues in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai.

Current Points Table:

Source

Delhi Capitals are at the top of the table when the tournament halted in early this month due to few players testing Positive for CoVid 19 and remaining top 4 teams in that order are Chennai Superkings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians.

Challenges ahead of revised schedule:

While the BCCI is confident of the revised start as per the window they announced i.e. September - October window, they have to convince other boards to get all the players and also hope other boards agree for revising their own schedule.

Some of the challenges we can re-collect here are:

Caribbean Premier League is scheduled to complete by September 19 and that may need to start early and to be completed early since the bio bubble change needs some time.

Availability of England players is in doubt as they have prioritized bilateral series against the IPL and that will be a BIG challenge.

Schedule of T20 World Cup may not be a bigger issue since India is suppose to host and they have already requested for a change in venue to be played in UAE.

Bubble to bubble change needs some time for quarantine in between 2 tournaments as players needs to be travelling to UAE from different countries.

What to expect from matches in UAE?

Well, UAE isn't hosting the IPL for the First time, so we already know a bit about the venues for this year's IPL in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

While Sharjah has a flat pitch and more batsmen friendly, it is also notable that there weren't many 200+ scores.

Dubai stadium is relatively larger than 2 and is a lot fresher considering it's a new stadium and it's a spin friendly pitch and venue being bigger, has less scoring compared to other 2 venues.

Like Sharjah, Abu Dhabi is also a flat pitch but one point to note is, just like Dubai, this is also a bigger ground and that means, we can see less fire works here as for as hitting Sixes is concerned.

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Overall, the teams were happy playing here in 2020 and the same thing will hold true this time as well.

IPL 2020 Points Table:

Source

As we can see above, last year when IPL held in UAE, the difference in points from top 4 to bottom 4 wasn't that high considering the 9 wins for Mumbai Indians to the 6 wins for the last 3 teams in the points table and that shows how close the contest was.

Even the Third and Fourth finished teams had just 1 extra win compared to bottom 3 teams!!!!

But, this time around, there is already a considerable amount of difference between top 4 and bottom 4 with top team Delhi Capitals having 12 points and bottom placed Sunrisers Hyderabad having just 2 points!!!!

The gap in points could prove to be vital as teams play in UAE, the top 3 teams already having 10 or more points, may need 2 to 3 more wins while it will be a daunting task for the bottom 4 as they have 6 or lesser points from equal number of matches played.

Conclusion:

Whatever might be the permutations and combinations from BCCI with other boards over conducting remainder of IPL in UAE, we cricket fans will always enjoy the matches wherever the teams might play, but we just pray for safety of the players and other staff.

Let's all hope the UAE conducts the matches in a safe way just like they did last year and we all will be thankful to the players, staff, BCCI and ICC along with UAE for trying to continue this year's IPL inspite of the hurdles they have in conducting this coveted tournament.

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