Picture Credit: IPL
According to the latest reports, entire IPL 2021 is likely to shift to Mumbai after certain COVID-19 cases were found in the tournament's bio-bubble. This comes after Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier contracted the virus and the KKR vs RCB game on Monday got eventually cancelled. The news put a big threat to the T20 competition which is already being criticised by several cricketers and experts as it is happening in the middle of a health emergency in India.
However, recent developments say that the mega event will shift entirely to Mumbai for the latter half of it to be conducted successfully. The BCCI is working on shifting the entire tournament to Wankhede and DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai tentatively by Friday, May 7. Meanwhile, Brabourne stadium could be used for fitness and training purposes.
What will happen if rest of the matches take place entirely in Mumbai?
The ongoing 14th edition of IPL has completed its first leg. The game between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings on Sunday marked the beginning of the second leg. However, before Kolkata Knight Riders could face Royal Challengers Bangalore in Monday's game (Match number 30), the news of players from the Kolkata side testing positive forced the postponement of the game.
Read More: Two KKR players test positive for COVID-19; match against RCB postponed
It is worth noting that Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad were the venues that hosted the first leg of IPL 2021 without any hiccups. While there are some more matches to be played in Delhi and Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata are the two other venues for the upcoming games as per the original schedule of the tournament.
Talking about Mumbai in particular, the city reported a great fall in its number of COVID cases coming in a day. From a tally in excess of 10,000 per 24 hours, Mumbai mitigated the count to around 2500. The improvement may help the city in conducting IPL matches safely.