IPL Hits Its First Roadblock Before Even a Ball Is Bowled
There are less than a month left for the IPL to begin but there is still no clarity on the schedule of the tournament. The schedule was to be announced on 20th August but as of 27th August, it has still not been announced. Although in a time like this no one expected a smooth sailing but a delay like this from the very start has put question marks on the planning of the whole tournament.
Border Crossing and Logistics
Coronavirus cases in the past couple of weeks have risen by 10%. The government has had to amp up the restrictions in order to curb in one and for all. Abu Dhabi border has been sealed and people coming from Dubai or anywhere else need to show a COVID-19 test result from the last 48 hours to pass the border. KKR and Mumbai Indians are based in Abu Dhabi which means they would have to cross the border many times in order to play matches. Getting the test of players, coaching staff and others in a window of 48 hours and crossing the border would pose a serious challenge.
Players Not Happy to Play in the Afternoon
The temperature in UAE currently soars above 40-degree Celcius in the afternoon. There are some murmurs that some teams are not happy about playing matches at 2 in the afternoon, the hottest time of the day. UAE’s time zone is 1:30 hours behind that of India’s which means games starting at 2 PM would be broadcasted at 3:30 PM in India. The organisers cannot put the first match on weekend’s (usually the days when two matched are held) later than 2 PM. If a game starts at 3 PM in UAE, it would be 4:30 PM in India and the second match would be pushed to midnight.
