BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in its hastiness to show that it is well prepared to host the T20 World Cup this October-November, went ahead with the tournament despite there being reservations about the Covid situation. It even went ahead and held the tournament in multiple venues, and not at one or two venues as was being discussed initially with the franchises.

"The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has organised charter flights to ferry both men and women players to Mumbai before we leave for the UK. Considering the distance and individual convenience, players have made their own choice," tweeted Harmanpreet who is also the captain of India women's T20 International squad.

There were rumours that the Aussie contingent had received preferential treatment on their arrival back from the Maldives, but CA interim chief executive Nick Hockley said on Tuesday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has fulfilled its duties. IPL was postponed midway due to raging Covid pandemic in India and breach of bio-bubbles of four of the eight franchises.

India's tour of Sri Lanka in June last year was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which sent the entire Future Tours Programme (FTP) of the top cricketing countries haywire. India's tour to Sri Lanka is coinciding with the national team's Test tour of England, comprising the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and a Test series against the host.

The initial round of IPL matches was held in four cities, including Ahmedabad and New Delhi, where the medical infrastructure is on the verge of collapse due to the increasing number of Covid patients. Haigh, in his column for The Australian newspaper, wrote that it was strange that the IPL's line was that it was playing on for "humanity" when the Indian government had claimed at the start of the year that it had defeated coronavirus.

"What the BCCI is working to do is to move the entire cohort out of India where they will wait until it's possible to return to Australia," Hockley told reporters in a press conference in Sydney. "The BCCI has been working on a range of options. That's now narrowed down to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The BCCI is committed not only to the first move but also to putting on a charter to bring them back to Australia," he further said.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state by Covid-19, and if the Board of Control for Cricket in India is indeed thinking of Mumbai – the capital of the state with three or four world class stadiums – its choice would be open to questions, considering the human tragedy that is unfolding.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been named as standby for the T20 World Cup in case the worsening Covid-19 situation does not improve in India, a top official of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) confirmed. India are due to host the tournament in October-November but a second wave of Covid-19 has hit the country badly with well over 3.5 lakh new cases and 3,000-plus deaths daily over the last few days.

Bindra, who won the 10-metre air rifle gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, also wondered why the Indian cricket board, worth Rs 14,489.80 crore, the richest in the world, hasn't contributed so far to the Covid cause, like vaccination during the current wave. "Cricketers and officials can't just live in their own bubble, and be totally deaf or blind to whatever is going outside," he wrote in a hard-hitting piece in the Indian Express newspaper.

The trio, in the 'A+' category, will earn Rs 7 crore for the year. There are 10 players in the 'A' category who will get Rs 5 crore each while five players in category 'B' will get Rs 3 crore each. The 10 cricketers in the 'C' category will get Rs 1 crore each.