Aditya Verma, The original petitioner in the IPL spot-fixing case, has urged to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to conduct the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League in India and not the UAE, which is "also not safe" amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
The cash-rich league is scheduled to begin in the UAE on September 19 although the BCCI is awaiting approval from the central government. In a letter to Sourav Ganguly, Verma shared why it must be played in India.
"The Dubai Rugby Sevens is a big event in the UAE and they had to postpone it when it was supposed to be held in November. So how can we take IPL to UAE. I have written to Dada (Ganguly) and requested him to have IPL in India," Verma told PTI.
India's COVID positive case count is nearly 1.90M where more than 39,000 dead, Verma still requested that creating a bio-bubble in a city like Mumbai will be far easier than having three separate zones in three UAE cities for the IPL.
"They can at least try their best to do it in Mumbai," Aditya Verma suggested.
When he was told that foreign players might be wary of traveling to India amid this crunch situation compared to Dubai where the positive case count is less than a lakh, he said that why doesn't the board think of making it a league with the Indian players only.
"We have 60 plus foreigners. If they are not willing to come, we can replace them with Indian players," the secretary of the unsanctioned Cricket Association of Bihar said.
"An IPL in India would help to uplift the mood of the common public which is already stressed by COVID-19. If we can hold a successful IPL in India in these times, it will be a huge achievement," he concluded.
Cover Credits: CricketCountry
