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This is the third time it will be played in the UAE
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IPL has an estimated brand value of $6.7 billion
The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced on Saturday, May 29, that the half-finished Indian Premier League will see its concluding matches played in the UAE in September-October this year.
This is the third time the world’s most popular cricket league — which has an estimated brand value of $6.7 billion — will be played in that country.
IPL is a professional Indian sports league which has millions of fans in India, the sub-continent and in the Gulf. The league was suspended in early May in India after many players tested positive for Covid-19 in India’s second wave of the pandemic.
Although coronavirus infections have started coming down in India, BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah was quoted by local reports as saying that the board resolved to “complete the remaining matches of IPL’s 2021 season in the UAE also considering that the monsoon season in India is in the months of September-October this year.”
The decision was taken at a Special General Meeting of the Board, held virtually, at which members unanimously agreed to move the IPL to the UAE and resume it in mid-September. The season will last until the second week of October. There will be 31 games during this season.
The Covid-19 pandemic last year and a complete lockdown imposed by the Indian government during the traditional IPL season caused the league to move to the UAE for the second time. In 2014, on account of India’s parliamentary elections during the IPL season, the IPL was taken out of India to the UAE for the first time to avoid disruptions to the games because of election activity.