BCCI was planning to host a camp for centrally contracted players in July, however, the sudden turn of events, and lockdown norms in certain parts of the country forces the Indian cricket board to wait.
The BCCI has now turned their eye towards Dubai as a possible venue to setup a camp after the Indian team management requested for a camp to assess the fitness of its contracted players ahead of the IPL, which is likely to be staged sometime in the September-October window should the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia, get cancelled.
BCCI have thus set their sights on Dubai as a possible venue for the camp given UAE’s emergence as the likely venue for IPL 2020, which saw its fate sealed due to the Coronavirus outbreak. BCCI still wanted to go ahead and stage the IPL in India, possibly Mumbai, however, the situation doesn’t seem to get any better and unless there is a drastic improvement, the league would set site outside the country.
According to a report in The New Indian Express, the team management wants a six-week training camp before the cricketers start taking part in any series.
“By the looks of it, UAE will mostly host the IPL, unless the situation improves dramatically in Mumbai. So the camp there makes more sense in every way possible. Once the IPL venue is decided, then expect things to move forward quickly,” the leading English daily quoted sources as saying.
If the IPL does go ahead in the September-October window, IPL franchises would want a camp with their players sometime in the end of August/ early September, leaving no time for BCCI to hold their camp.
Given the situation in India, BCCI have been propelled to look elsewhere with International Cricket Council Academy in Dubai emerging as the most likely of venues. UAE seem to be a safe option now, given that they have situation under control and have even opened borders for tourists from across the globe. They would be more than happy to host the Indian team, with a broader vision of hosting the IPL later this year.
