Mumbai will likely miss being IPL host this year

The authority concerned with organizing the Indian Premier League (IPL), scheduled to begin on April 10, might revise its decision for rolling the tournament entirely in Mumbai amid the second wave of Coronavirus across Maharashtra.

"Mumbai seems to be a risk zone as the pandemic is hitting again.  It is now under observation. We are considering other venues in a while”, said an official with the Indian cricket news website — CricBuzz.

Until Thursday, 8,700 people have been detected as COVID-19 positive until while 1,000 plus cases reported solely in Mumbai. In this circumstance, Mumbai has been kept as an ‘optional’ venue in response to safety issues, with a consideration of other venues.

In the meantime, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named the five as host venues for the tournament. The venues that include — are Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Delhi.

There is a strong chance that Lucknow also could be in the mix as BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has been lobbying hard for the IPL games in the Uttar Pradesh center but it is not on the initial shortlist yet.

Cricbuzz cited that the matches could take place in a cluster-caravan format, where the teams will be split into two groups and play several matches at the same venues in two different cities before getting re-shuffled and moving to two other venues.

The 13th edition of the world's biggest tournament was held in United Arab Emirates’ three venues due to the Coronavirus pandemic.