IPL 2021 in UAE: BCCI in talks with Cricket West Indies to prepone CPL and avoid clash with IPL

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is trying to convince Cricket West Indies to advance the start of the Caribbean Premier League by a week or 10 days to ensure a seamless bubble-to-bubble transfer of players for the resumption of IPL 2021 in the UAE come September.

Suspended midway into its 14th season owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BCCI on Saturday (May 30) approved the resumption of season 14th of the lucrative Indian Premier League in the UAE in the middle of September.

The CPL is scheduled to get underway from August 28 with the final to be played on September 19, while the remaining part of IPL is likely to be held from September 18 to October 10, not leaving the players with any time to settle down.

“We are in talks with Cricket West Indies. We are hoping that if CPL can be finished a few days in advance, it would help in bubble to bubble transfer of all players to Dubai and in time to complete the mandatory three-day quarantine,” a BCCI source, privy to the development, told PTI on Sunday.

If the BCCI and CWI fail to reach an agreement over dates, some of the biggest players could miss the initial few matches or maybe the first half of the IPL 2021.

The big names involved in both the T20 leagues are Mumbai Indians’ five-time IPL-winning influential all-rounder Kieron Pollard, the swashbuckling Chris Gayle, seasoned all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Nicholas Pooran, Fabien Allen, Keemo Paul, Sunil Narine, and Trinidad and Tobago coach Brendon McCullum, who is also at the helm of affairs in Kolkata Knight Riders.

The upcoming edition will be the CPL’s ninth season and will feature some of the format’s biggest superstars from across the world. The IPL’s resumption was approved during the BCCI’s SGM on Saturday, less than a month after the league was suspended because of COVID-19 cases in its bio-bubble.