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BCCI Secretary Jay Shah recently revealed that the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League will have the last bio-bubble in the upcoming cricketing season for the Indian team. Shah also talked about how the players will regularly be tested while speaking in an interview with the Times of India.
Jay Shah said, "If I'm not wrong, the bio-bubble for IPL-2022 was the last. For the India-South Africa series onwards, players will be tested (for covid), but will not be any bio-bubble." He then addressed how these bio-bubbles take a toll on the players but have also helped create a family-like atmosphere among the players.
"Yes, it's tough for the players. However, they got a family-like atmosphere inside the hotel bio-bubble. In the case of the IPL, we had hotels dedicated to each team. The whole tournament was held at one place. All the teams had their lounges, recreational centres (to relax and unwind). So, they also enjoyed it," he added.
In the same interview, Shah was asked about the Covid outbreak that happened in the Delhi Capitals camp in the IPL where a few players and staff members tested positive for the virus. Shah talked about how they were ready for controlling this outbreak as it happened in just one team.
He said, “My reaction was that 'we've to move on. For us, the safety and security of the players is paramount, but still, we decided to move on. We shifted DC's match from Pune to Mumbai. We got all the players/support staff struck by covid treated properly.”
“We kept conducting RT-PCR tests for DC's members on a daily basis. Fortunately, all DC members were fine later," said Shah. Did the BCCI have a plan B ready at that time? "No, it didn't occur to us because the covid outbreak was only in one team," he continued.
Shah praised the cricket boards of Maharashtra and Mumbai for helping them conduct the group stage of the tournament flawlessly. He said, "We want to thank them for helping us out. We had conducted the IPL in entire India, and there was a covid outbreak, then everyone would've suffered-both the players and the BCCI would've suffered financial losses. We organized it in Mumbai and Pune because we could do away with air travel for the teams. Ground transport was enough."