IPL 2021: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh writes to BCCI for not considering Mohali as a host

On Sunday, March 7, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the schedule for the highly-anticipated 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). After conducting IPL 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a bio-secure bubble, BCCI has decided to bring the T20 extravaganza home.

This year the league will be conducted differently as only six venues have been selected namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata to run the tournament from April 9 to May 30. However, to eliminate the home advantage for any franchise, the BCCI has decided that all eight teams will play only at four venues out of six selected, barring their home ground. However, this arrangement didn’t go well with the Punjab government as they are visibly upset with the Indian board for excluding Mohali as a potential venue for hosting IPL 2021.

Speaking about the same, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that they have written to the BCCI for considering Mohali as they are ready to take every precaution to ensure the safe execution of the IPL. The Chief Minister also took a dig at the BCCI for including Mumbai as a venue that is recording around 9,000 COVID-19 cases per day.

“I have written to them (BCCI) saying if they can have a match in Mumbai, which has had 9,000 cases per day, then what’s wrong with Mohali. We will take the necessary precautions: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on IPL excluding Mohali as match venue.” ANI tweeted.

BCCI explains the reason behind not considering Mohali as a venue for IPL 2021

A few days back the Indian board had clarified the exclusion of Mohali. The main reason behind not hosting any games in Punjab is the ongoing farmers’ protest in the country. BCCI fears that the protesters may cause any ruckus during the IPL games which can hamper the image of the country as IPL attracts international media attention.

“We don’t want a situation to arise where we have an IPL match in Mohali and a farmer agitation march moves towards the stadium. It will attract media attention from all over the world. We don’t want such a situation to arise. Mohali is not among shortlisted venues due to the current scenario in the northern part of India,” a BCCI official had said.