Great News for Cricket Lovers: Government permits 50% Fans Attendance for IPL 2021 and for other Sporting Events

The New Year start brings exciting news to the Cricket lovers when the Government allows 50% fans in the stadium. Fans are jumping across the Oceans in the course of celebrating the information of watching IPL as well as the England Tour of India cricket matches in the stadium. The COVID 19 pandemic termed as the deadly spreading disease forced lockdowns and pulled all the major events of the world inactive since 2019. The announcement of the Government of allowing 50% audience in the cricket stadium filled the hearts of the cricket lovers with ecstasy and captivated the whole cricket World towards India.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) stands at high reputations, and fan followings is increasing rapidly across the world. Last year, in 2020 the IPL event was postponed to October 2020 playing the game away from India without fans was really aching from the heart. But, as per the official information shared by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India stating to allow 50% audience in the stadium from next month for IPL and other sporting events filled the Cricket fans and other stakeholders with joys and happiness. IPL is considered as an emotional drama with a lot of twists and turns and is subjected to be a powerful and fabulous event in the history of Cricket. IPL is being the major component of the summer vocation treating the fans with the grand feast of Cricket. The relaxation is also applicable to the nearest tournaments of “Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament as well as the England Tour of India contests taking place in January 2021 and April 2020 respectively.

PROTOCOLS ADVISED BY THE MINISTRY:

However, The IPL Governing Council is termed responsible along with BCCI is in the position to follow the precautionary guidelines against CoronaVirus by keeping the atmosphere clean and the matter of social distance. Following are the protocols advised by the Ministry in their SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedure) while the events are actually conducted:

Entry & Exit Points: The fans are expected to follow the COVID 2020 protocols of social distance, sanitisers, masks etc., as suggested by the Union Ministry. The IPL governing council of volunteers and the ground officials is highly responsible for minimising overcrowding in the exit and entry points of the stadium.

Up to 50%: The total occupancy of the stadium can be filled with 50% spectators for the live events along with COVID 19 safety protocols.

Eagle View of CCTV: CCTV is one of the integral sources of the ground officials to monitor the movement of the crowd from entry to exit for following all the protocols of COVID 19.

Local Authority: Though the Ministry has given all the standard instructions, the IPL governing council must get the approval from the state local authorities to ensure the smooth conduct of matches for better execution of the guidelines.

Task Force: The specific task force consisting of selected volunteers should organise and coordinate the approved plans of the Union Ministry and the state authorities.

IPL Auctions 2021: The trailer before the main picture which grabs the attention of the IPL central event is the IPL auction event. Due to time constraint and COVID 19 protocols, it is going to be a Mini-auction rather than Mega-Auctions. In such mini-auction frames, franchises can retain and release players as per their wish. Some of the key points to be noted on the action plans are listed below:

1. The Mini-Auction will be taking place by the month of February 2020.

2. Mega-Auctions are not possible at this moment, and the council is getting ready to conduct such auctions by the end of this year for IPL’s 15th edition in 2022 where BCCI approves to include two new teams to the eight-team format of the game.

3. BCCI is organising the most awaited Syed Mushtaq Ali’s T20 tournament by January 2021 as it will open the gateway for the franchises to choose the right potentials in the mini-auction stage.

4. As the contract period of players is valid only till 2020, BCCI and Franchises is in the urge of extending contractual terms with the players for the 2021 event.

6. The date and venue of the mini-auction is yet to be announced by the BCCI.

On hearing the announcement of 50% occupancy in the stadium and as the month of IPL is nearing, cricket lover’s fly up with the statement, “Excitement knifed through the air”.