Still no clarity on allowing crowds in IPL matches: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly

With IPL returning to India and dates being out, everyone is excited to know whether the crowd will be allowed for the tournament.

In the recently concluded Test series against England, stadiums were allowed to be filled at 50 per cent capacity. However, in a tournament like IPL with multiple venues and teams, allowing the crowd will have to be a well-calculated and planned move.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has said that there is still no clarity on whether the board will allow crowds into the stadium, and it is monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country.

However, Ganguly did reveal that the tournament will start without people in the stands and a call on allowing fans will be taken later.

“We don't know yet, it depends on the situation. (Last time in) Dubai also it was the same. We started closed doors and we expected it to open up to the crowds, but since it went so well, we did not take the risk of bringing the crowds back,” Ganguly told India Today.

Talking about the fact that the board allowed people in stadia during the England series, he said, “Slightly different than a bilateral, because you know when if you open up to crowds and the team is playing in the middle, it will be practising outside as well. A lot of these stadiums have to practise pitches outside the ground, so the teams also practise there.

“So to open it up to crowds you also expect the crowds to get closer to the practising teams. So it could be a bit of a risk,” he added.