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Aakash Chopra explains what went wrong in IPL 2021 compared to last season in UAE
IPL 2021: Some players and several members of the team management tested positive for the virus and it resulted in the postponement of IPL 2021 mid-way through the tournament.
On Monday, the BCCI decided to cancel the Indian Premier League 2021 owing to Covid-19 cases among the players and support staff inside the bio-bubble. Some players and several members of the team management tested positive for the virus and it resulted in the postponement of IPL 2021 mid-way through the tournament.
It stills remains unclear how the virus entered the bubble, as the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, in an interview with The Indian Express, said that as per the reports that he has received, there was no breach.
Also read: 'Those little things went my way': Shane Watson recalls his 117*-run knock for CSK in IPL 2018 final
Former India batsman Aakash Chopra commented on the issue and he believes that air travel may have been one of the problems in maintaining the bio-bubble in India this year.
"I was reading Sourav Ganguly's interview and the first thing that is coming to mind is air travel. Air travel has been an issue. In the UAE, you were traveling by road. Air travel is a tricky bit, you asked for tarmac to tarmac access but you didn't get it everywhere," said Chopra on his Youtube channel.
"Secondly in the UAE, the numbers were stacked in favor of the IPL. Here the numbers were stacked against the IPL. As the IPL was progressing the numbers were going through the roof. In the end, it is a game of odds, if the positivity has gone so high, it is easy to seep in," Chopra added.
"Practice grounds, that's another issue. If you are going to multiple grounds for practice and the groundsmen there are not in a quarantine, which is difficult to do everywhere in India. If you see the ground in Palam or Roshnara, the groundsmen don't stay there and the Delhi numbers were absolutely through the roof."
"Last but not least, the problem with multiple cities is that you cannot take the entire hotel. If you are moving from city to city, with teams staying in different hotels, you can take only a limited number of rooms, unless of course there is one franchise who took the entire hotel everywhere," Chopra signed off.
