Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
In all likelihood, Indian Premier League 2022 will be held in India behind closed doors. Sources close to SportsTiger revealed that Mumbai will host the upcoming edition of the cash-rich league. Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, Cricket Club of India (CCI) and DY Patil Stadium are likely to be venues in Mumbai while Pune might also host some matches if needed.
BCCI has planned to keep the tournament within the country, even if all the games are played across 3-4 venues in Maharashtra. The biggest task for BCCI is to conduct the tournament in a safe environment. If the board is forced to host IPL 2022 outside of India due to Covid-19, it cannot be hosted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Sri Lanka. As reported by TOI, the BCCI is considering South Africa as the only overseas option and also as Plan B while hosting IPL 2022 in India remains Plan A.
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IPL 2020 was fully conducted in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Additionally, IPL 2021 started behind closed doors in India but was forced to be postponed midway due to the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. It was then continued in the UAE later in September. Due to the rise in cases again in the country, the BCCI has already postponed some domestic cricket tournaments like Ranji Trophy.
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Notably, the reason to scrap UAE from the overseas list is more of a financial one. "The Board has paid Emirates Cricket fees to the tune of Rs 150 crore (Rs 100 cr for 2020 edition of the IPL & Rs 50 crore for the 2021 edition) to host the tournament there. The Board is certainly not keen on spending that kind of money again and will therefore look at options," TOI quoted a source in the know of the developments. "It may not happen at all. South Africa is merely the BCCI's Plan-B," the source further added.