Dream 11 IPL to have a dynamic schedule?

The Dream 11 IPL carnival has officially graced the UAE with players and support staff from teams already trickling into the country quarantining themselves for the blockbuster tournament due to begin in less than a month. However, despite the preparations being well underway, the schedule for the IPL has not yet been announced. It has now come to light that placing the safety and security of everyone involved at the forefront, the BCCI is looking at a “dynamic schedule” which is supposed to be the primary reason for the delay in the announcement.

The limited over series between England and Australia is scheduled to finish on the 16th of September. Keeping in mind the quarantine rules that the BCCI is adamant on sticking to, the Aussie and English players are likely to miss the first four to five days of the IPL. "So there is a possibility that matches in those first three or four days can be allotted to teams not majorly dependent on players flying over from the UK," a source is supposed to have told Times of India.

There is also the possibility of a player testing positive, resulting in all those sharing the bubble having to quarantine themselves for a week. In such a scenario, putting the tournament on pause would not be pragmatic. "If that happens, can that team play on those six days? Possibly not. But the tournament will go on, so it's necessary to work on the possibility of keeping a schedule flexible enough where matches can be brought forward and delayed, as and when necessary," the source added.

The source also stressed the importance of getting the scheduling of the second week of the tournament right. "A thorough build-up to the IPL every year often results in the first week of the tournament being a hit and obviously getting lapped up by the viewers. The second week becomes important because the emphasis then is to ensure the same kind of enthusiasm remains because from the third week onwards, teams are already starting to battle for the playoffs and the points table becomes a talking point. So, structuring the second week of the tournament while keeping flexibility in mind is necessary," BCCI source said.

The UAE is expected to be much hotter than the Indian summer for which the IPL was originally scheduled during April and May of 2020. “The first schedule was prepared early this year keeping the March-April-May window in mind, but now with the change in destination and the months, there's an effort to try and schedule as many double-headers from the second week of October onwards so that the afternoon matches are played in better temperatures," say those in the know.

[TOI inputs]