IPL 2021 to be played from September 19 to October 15: BCCI

The remainder of the 2021 Indian Premier League will be played between September 19 and October 15 in the United Arab Emirates UAE the Indian cricket board confirmed on WednesdayIPL will be held between September 19 and October 15 Rajeev Shukla vicepresident of the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI told IANS on WednesdayThere are 31 matches to be played after the tournament was suspended on May 4 due to Covid19 positive cases in the camps of four of the eight franchises The cashrich league was suspended midway after the completion of 29 matchesThe second half of the tournament to be played in UAE will however be too close to the start of the T20 World Cup that begins around midOctoberAlthough the International Cricket Council ICC has not officially announced the dates for the T20 World Cup that immediately follows the IPL October 18 is the date being bandied in certain quartersThe T20 World Cup which will be hosted by the BCCI will likely be held in the UAE as well as another gulf nation possibly OmanThe BCCI has until June 28 to tell the ICC whether it is in a position to host the tournament as the Covid19 pandemic is still not over in IndiaThe October 15 finish leaves only three days between the end of IPL 2021 and the start of the T20 World Cup if it begins on October 18 The ICC told IANS on Wednesday that there was no rule of a mandatory gap between a domestic tournament and an ICC tournamentWe will release the dates and venue of T20 World Cup only in July We cannot comment on it as of now But there is no rule on the need of a gap ahead of an ICC event The ICC needs 10 days to prepare the pitch and the ground ahead of an event That too is a norm and not a rule said an ICC officialThe rest of it is still being worked out between the BCCI and the ICC We can talk about it only later the official saidAsked if the gap will be too little for players to switch from IPL to T20 World Cup Shukla said the small gap shouldnt be a problem as the initial phase of T20 World is likely to involve nonTest playing nationsThere should be no problem with the gap The first phase of the T20 World Cup will comprise qualifiers according to BCCIs knowledge So the main teams like India and others will get sufficient gap said Shukla implying that the nonTest playing nations could be playing the tournament firstThere are 16 teams in the 2021 T20 World Cup including five nonTest playing nations Papua New Guinea the Netherlands Namibia Scotland and Oman are also participating besides the 11 Test playing nations that include Afghanistan and Ireland tooThe initial matches involving weaker teams could be hosted in OmanThe ICC however said they couldnt confirm this since it is still being worked outThe process is still being worked out We cannot comment on it said the ICC official On Indias upcoming tour of Sri Lanka in July comprising ODIs and T20Is Shukla said that it is still under works and a final decision would be taken soonThe broadcasters Sony Sports India however have already come out with the schedule stating that the series will begin on July 13 and ending on July 25Also ReadWho will be the leading runscorer and wickettaker at WTC FinalThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever