Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly went on an inspection at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, along with some local dignitaries and a few members of the Indian Premier League Governing Council, including former IPL Chairperson Rajiv Shukla.
The 13th season of the Indian Premier League will be played at three venues in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Since there are 60 matches to be played, the pitches will take a beating and as expected, will start to get slower and lower as the tournament progresses into its later stages.
Amidst the soaring temperatures and lack of clarity on the conditions in the UAE, Ganguly reportedly seemed satisfied with the arrangements at Sharjah, about which he posted on his Instagram account.
Ganguly, along with the IPL Chairperson Brijesh Patel, travelled to Dubai last Wednesday, in a chartered plane. After which they were required to serve a six-day mandatory quarantine period, according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) set by the BCCI and the Governing Council, before getting on with their duties.
Apart from the Australian and the English players, who were part of the recently concluded limited-overs series played in England, all the players of the eight franchises have reached UAE. While, the initial squads, especially Indian players and the support staff started leaving from 20 August, the players involved in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) reported to their respective teams, once their teams were not contesting in the final stages of the competition, after 6 September.
The IPL 2020 edition will begin this Saturday, with the defending and four-time champions Mumbai Indians taking on the Chennai Super Kings, with the final league stage game being played on 3 November. The fixtures of the play-offs have still not been announced, with the final taking place on Tuesday, 10 November.
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