BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on IPL 2021 bio-bubble breach: ‘How it happened is very difficult to say’

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League, which was running smoothly despite the country jostling against the second-wave of COVID-19, endured a massive blow after cricketers and other staffs started testing positive for the deadly virus. Subsequently, the T20 league was called off midway and the possibility of resumption looks bleak considering the crisis situation that the country is currently facing. 

Several former cricketers welcomed the decision, while few claimed that holding IPL 2021 in India itself was a huge mistake. However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly is not paying heed to such criticism and stated that conducting the T20 league in the country was not a mistake.

However, when asked about the bio-bubble breach, Ganguly said he is yet to understand how things took such a drastic turn and confirmed the report BCCI received in this regard doesn’t mention of a breach.  

“I don’t think so. The report we got is that there’s no breach of the bubble. How it happened is very difficult to say,” the former India skipper said during an interview with The Indian Express.

Ganguly also shared insights on UAE, the venue for IPL 2020, being as the second option for conducting the league and why BCCI decided to stick to India. 

“It was discussed, but the (COVID-19 cases) in India in February was (virtually) nothing. It has just gone through the roof in the last three weeks. Before that it was nothing. We discussed about the UAE but then decided to do it in India,” the BCCI president said.  

Ganguly also feels that even if the best hands work together COVID-19 can still penetrate through the bubble and took the examples of England football clubs, who have witnessed their players contracting the virus despite remaining in the bubble.  

“Professional hands around the world can’t control it (virus penetrating the bubble). When it was happening in England (second wave of the pandemic), there were cases in the English Premier League. Manchester City, Arsenal players got infected. Matches got rescheduled. Because their season is six months long, they can do it. But our season is tight. Since we have to (release) players to their respective countries, rescheduling was very difficult,” Ganguly said.