Dubai: The Emirates Cricket Board may have to do some heavy planning if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decides to host their mini IPL in September here. The working committee meeting of the BCCI, which met in Dharmasala, has announced plans to host the shortened version of IPL either in the UAE or US.
The UAE’s three international venues are among the busiest cricket venues in the world today with stadiums often booked well in advance.
If the BCCI wants to host the mini IPL in September here, it may clash with Pakistan’s series unless discussions are held immediately regarding the match schedule.
According to sources here, if BCCI will have to host the mini IPL, there is very little time to make the arrangements for the tournament.
Pakistan will be playing three Tests, three One day Internationals and three Twenty 20 Internationals here against West Indies. Both teams are expected to arrive here much before the last week of September.
With Test matches for the Pakistan-West Indies series likely to be played at night with a pink ball, even warm up matches have been planned with the pink ball for both the teams.
BCCI has plans to host mini IPL with all the eight teams and hence may require all the stadiums here for more than two weeks.
If only the BCCI start the mini IPL from early September and finish the tournament before the arrival of Pakistan, then the event can be held here. To prepare the venues and host a high profile event like IPL will need time.
The BCCI may also opt to host the mini IPL in the US, after Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne’s All-Star T20 event held there last November attracted large turnout.
However, the high cost of flying the teams and officials to the US may result in UAE being considered for this inaugural edition. The time zone here will also be favourable for Indian fans. The BCCI have also kept an option of mini IPL being contested with only four teams.
UAE have already hosted the IPL in 2013 with great success and hence BCCI may prefer not to experiment their new tournament in US. The tax-friendly trend in UAE may also prompt BCCI to choose UAE.
It is understood that the BCCI have taken the decision of the mini IPL without even consulting the franchise owners or representatives. The mini IPL plan sprang up immediately after broadcasters agreed for the event. Team owners will now have to generate player fees and also find out about players’s availability. The mini IPL has been created following the scraping of the Champions League, which was created by BCCI in agreement with Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.
