BCCI gets approval from government to conduct IPL in UAE
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has received the much-awaited permission from the Government of India to conduct the IPL in the United Arab Emirates. The IPL Governing Council Chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed the development. Although the BCCI had earlier received in-principle permission from the government, written permission was required to finalize the contract with the Emirates Cricket Board.
"Yes, we have received the government approval. We have already released the SOP (standard operating procedure). They have to follow that. We will also be having a committee (to supervise it)," Patel told The Indian Express.
The United Arab Emirates (ECB) will host the upcoming edition of IPL, which was postponed in March amid COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, the 53-day tournament will comprise ten afternoon matches starting at 3:30 PM IST. Meanwhile, the evening matches will kick-off at 7:30 PM IST. Considering the fragile situation across the globe, unlimited COVID-19 replacements will be allowed during the tournament.
The thirteenth IPL edition is expected to run from September 19 to November 10. With the BCCI attaining the all-important approval from the Indian Government, this framework gets a further push. However, the full schedule is yet to be announced by the cricket board.
All the eight IPL franchises will be observing a six-day quarantine period upon reaching Dubai. The decision regarding the same was taken during the recently concluded IPL team owners' meeting. As per reports, the teams are likely to leave for Dubai around August 20 and hold respective camps. Interestingly, the squad strength is set to be 24 for each team.
The BCCI has invited third parties to express their interest in acquiring the title-sponsorship rights for IPL. Notably, the rights will be available from August 18, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Furthermore, the turnover of interested parties must be over Rs. 300 crores. This announcement comes after Chinese smartphone company Vivo pulled out as the tournament's title sponsor in the wake of Indo-China row.
