Will probe bubble breach thoroughly: IPL chairman Brijesh Patel

CSK players arrive on the ground for their match against RCB at Wankhede last month. Pic/BCCI; IPL

The BCCI took pride in the fact that the Indian Premier League (IPL) was being conducted in their secure bio-bubble. But on Tuesday, they had to suspend the 14th edition of the league because of rising Covid-19 cases among players and support staff members of teams. What happened to the watertight bio bubble?

"We will definitely look into it. We will thoroughly investigate. We will be talking to the franchises, the ground staff, hotel staff, TV crew members...basically whoever was connected with the conduct of the tournament," IPL chairman Brijesh Patel told mid-day from Bangalore.

Patel's disappointment was palpable and the thorough investigation could provide some answers, whenever the probe is over. On Monday, when two KKR players (Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier) and two CSK members (bowling coach L Balaji and a bus cleaner) tested positive for Covid-19, the BCCI was still confident about going ahead with the IPL.

Brijesh Patel

Monday's match between KKR and RCB was rescheduled and they were contemplating rejigging the schedule.

However, on Tuesday morning, an emergent IPL Governing Council meeting was called and a unanimous decision was taken to suspend the IPL after it emerged that Delhi Capitals' Amit Mishra and Sunrisers Hyderabad Wriddhiman Saha had also tested positive for Coronavirus.

SRH were to take on Mumbai Indians in New Delhi on Tuesday. Conducting a multi-team event like IPL amidst the pandemic was an example the BCCI was keen to set before hosting the ICC T20 World Cup later this year.

Hussey tests positive

Later in the day, CSK batting coach Michael Hussey also tested positive, reported PTI.

The BCCI was confident of pulling it off this time as well on the home soil, but the move badly misfired as the watertight bubble was breached just halfway into the tournament.

Fumigation of the stadium being done prior to the MI v RR match at New Delhi recently. Pic/BCCI; IPL

There are many factors that are being looked at. One of the talking points is whether it was a mistake to terminate International Management Group's (IMG) contract after the 2020 IPL was successfully conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amidst the pandemic. IMG's five-year contract ran till 2022, but the BCCI took the onus on themselves to organise the tournament this time by appointing its own set of professionals.

No compromise here

IMG's thorough management, planning and rich experience in organising tournaments were one of the key reasons why the IPL-13 turned out to be incident-free, reckon insiders.

Patel though did not think there was any compromise in conducting the IPL. "We took all the necessary precautions that were put in place to conduct the IPL last year in the UAE. We had tracking devices...everything [as last time]. So, I don't think so...[not having IMG as event organiser has anything to do with the IPL's suspension]," Patel said.

The other talking point is restricting the IPL matches to three or four venues, just like in the UAE where matches were conducted in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. The BCCI decided to follow a two-venue policy at one time, spread across six cities - Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. Patel said all this talk hardly mattered now that the tournament has been suspended. "No point going into all that now," he remarked.