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"The report we got is that there's no breach of the bubble" : Sourav Ganguly

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The BCCI asserts that organising the Indian Premier League (IPL) in India this year was not a mistake. In an interview with The Indian Express, BCCI president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly spoke about the thought process behind organising it at home, why the Board chose six cities as venues, and that Indian domestic players will be compensated irrespective of the fate of the 2021 IPL season.

Excerpts:

In hindsight, do you think it was a mistake to organise the IPL in India this year?

No. When we decided, the number was not even close to this. We did the England tour successfully.


Was there a discussion to hold it in the UAE?

It was discussed, but the (COVID-19 cases) in India in February was (virtually) nothing. It has just gone through the roof in the last three weeks. Before that it was nothing. We discussed about the UAE but then decided to do it in India.


Is there a window to resume the season?

We will see. It’s too early to say.


If at all it can be resumed, will that be in the UAE or in India?

I don’t know. It’s too early to say.

Was the bubble-breach a case of the bio-security bubble not being fool proof? Or was there somebody who broke the bubble?

I don’t think so. The report we got is that there’s no breach of the bubble. How it happened is very difficult to say. How so many people are getting (infected) in the country is also very difficult to say.


Would hosting the season in one or two cities have been better than a six-city arrangement?

As I said, when we decided all this, there was no (Covid spike) in India. So it’s very easy to say now, but when this tournament was organised, Covid numbers (in India) were nothing. We started with Mumbai and finished there without any case. And Mumbai was very high (number of active Covid cases) then.


Unlike last season, the BCCI didn’t appoint UK-company Restrata to take charge of the bubble. Would it have been good to appoint them this year, given their expertise?

We discussed their name, but they don’t have a big presence in India, that was the problem. So we went with others.


So basically the bubble was BCCI-arranged. Do you have any regret that maybe a professional hand would have been better?

They are all professional hands. Professional hands around the world can’t control it (virus penetrating the bubble). When it was happening in England (second wave of the pandemic), there were cases in the English Premier League. Manchester City, Arsenal players got infected. Matches got rescheduled. Because their season is six months long, they can do it. But our season is tight. Since we have to (release) players to their respective countries, rescheduling was very difficult.


How are you managing a safe passage for foreign players?

They will all be fine. They are all looked after and they will all reach home. The Australians will reach the Maldives tomorrow, finish their quarantine and then reach Australia safely. So I don’t see any issue.


Does the BCCI have any plan to vaccinate the Indian cricketers before they go to England for the World Test Championship (WTC) final?

Now that they have time, they will do it individually since the (state) governments (are) getting the vaccinations done. They all go to their respective homes, so it’s an easier option that way.


The IPL brings a major chunk of revenue for the BCCI. Now that the season has been postponed, will domestic players be compensated since there was no Ranji Trophy either this season?

They will be compensated. It has been decided in the AGM only. So at the end of the season, when their payments will go, they will be compensated.


Will a revenue shortage affect the compensation?

No, it won’t.


Is the WTC final is on schedule?

Yes, it is (at Southampton from June 18-22).


So the players will assemble, undergo tests, serve a 10-day quarantine upon reaching England?

Yes, absolutely.


There have been reports about the T20 World Cup being shifted to the UAE…

It’s too early (to say).


This was the first time IMG wasn’t in charge for managing the IPL in India. Did that affect arrangements?

IMG doesn’t look after Covid. Even when it happened in UAE last year, IMG was not responsible for Covid (management). IMG was organising the matches and the event. Covid is (handled) completely by medical infrastructure. It has got nothing to do with IMG.


Was it unfair for the BCCI to cop criticism for continuing with the IPL in the middle of a Covid spike?

That answers your question. The English Premier League (when UK was in lockdown), La Liga, everything was happening around the world.


Anything the BCCI is planning to contribute to Covid relief?

Yes. We did it last year (Rs 51 crore). So this year also we are thinking of doing things.


Was the decision to postpone the IPL unanimous?

Yes, it was.

https://indianexpress.com/article/s...ension-covid-spike-bio-bubble-breach-7303525/
 
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I don't know who makes such report for Ganguly
There was no breach? lol.
 
OMB said:
I don't know who makes such report for Ganguly
There was no breach? lol.
Click to expand...

It's possible the virus spontaneously formed within the players and didn't need to be in close contact with someone who had COVID
 
Ganguly as the BCCI president has been an embarrassment. This glorified Jay Shah puppet didn't have the guts to point out the obvious when it was time to safeguard the health of hundreds of people involved in the IPL - which was to not allow the damn thing to commence in the first place. And now he has the audacity to make garbage statements like this.
 
Outrageous statement. Should be a good meme, if COVID wasn't that serious a subject.
 
MenInG said:
Outrageous statement. Should be a good meme, if COVID wasn't that serious a subject.
Click to expand...

The fact that these people know so little about COVID even up to now is alarming. How could they have been handed the responsibility to hold such a tournament I'll never know.
 
TheNightWatchman said:
The fact that these people know so little about COVID even up to now is alarming. How could they have been handed the responsibility to hold such a tournament I'll never know.
Click to expand...

Either misquoted or Ganguly's lost it.
 
His statement is all wrong did he or BCCI really think there was no covid in India? The numbers were low because they were simply not reported you cant have record number of cases in 3 weeks if there was no covid before.

His second point of premier league or la liga is also wrong were most of the players and staff are local residents of that country so it very much a private affair plus in the western world its easier to manage players where actually all players. But in IPL you have international players and staff who are given hotel rooms and even the local players are asked to stay in a hotel which makes long quarantine almost impossible.
 
Roger Stone would always teach his political friends one thing and that was to “admit nothing, deny everything”.

So this coming even from Ganguly doesn’t surprise me, you now have a system in place on what to do and you simply follow the rules in the system.
 
This is an horrible interview. Borderline shameless. The guy is showing zero regret and guilt. He is denying every mistake. It is as if bcci has done nothing wrong. Even after 2 days he still has no clue about what went wrong.
 
And I thought BCCI under someone like Ganguly would turn a corner. How wrong I was!
 
If Ganguly has any integrity left, he should stop being a Jay Shah (and hence papa Shah's) lackey immediately and save whatever little respect he has left in the hearts of his fans.
 
It's absolutely mind boggling to note that BCCI had guts to organise this year's IPL in India.

That's very very brave (and idiotic) of them. Could have so easily organized it in UAE. Quite a few foreign players alluded to this while leaving India after cancellation of IPL.
 
Wow! What an interview.

I thought more highly of Ganguly than this. Flat out denial about every single issue a safari seemingly nonchalant about everything.

‘It was fine when we made the decision, no regrets’
 
Covid cases were nothing?

How can this buffoon say that when india has been getting 50k cases daily continuously...
 
Pakhs said:
His statement is all wrong did he or BCCI really think there was no covid in India? The numbers were low because they were simply not reported you cant have record number of cases in 3 weeks if there was no covid before.

His second point of premier league or la liga is also wrong were most of the players and staff are local residents of that country so it very much a private affair plus in the western world its easier to manage players where actually all players. But in IPL you have international players and staff who are given hotel rooms and even the local players are asked to stay in a hotel which makes long quarantine almost impossible.
Click to expand...

Yes I was amazed when he said cases were nothing before. Cases in India was always high albeit not the current astronomical levels.
 
Key takeaways are “before it was nothing” and “difficult to say”.

Pretty ordinary interview I am afraid. One would expect a professional to say that detailed inquiry will done or a committee will be formed to review. Rather he is saying after an initial report (Two days after the event) that there is no breach and it’s difficult to say how it happened and not only stopping there as supposedly in the two day report he got there was analysis about covid spread in the whole country as well with the same conclusion that it’s difficult to say how so many people are getting infected in the country as well.
 
I feel that Ganguly and some in state of denial - sooner they accept the better.
 
Not sure why people are getting excited here. I see nothing wrong with what he has said. Unless someone has evidence to the contrary regarding a breach, we have to go with what Ganguly has to say
 
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bala977 said:
Not sure why people are getting excited here. I see nothing wrong with what he has said. Unless someone has evidence to the contrary regarding a breach, we have to go with what Ganguly has to say
Click to expand...

Where then you presume the virus came from. Whether it was intentional or not it most definitely came from a bubble breach.
Cricinfo released an article BEFORE the IPL about how the bubble isn't as protective.
Zampa's gone on record to say it's one of the unsafer bubbles he's been in and certainly not as good as the one from last year's IPL.
 
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bala977 said:
Not sure why people are getting excited here. I see nothing wrong with what he has said. Unless someone has evidence to the contrary regarding a breach, we have to go with what Ganguly has to say
Click to expand...

you can find various reports of bookies attending games disguised as cleaners , even on the most popular cricket site run by ESPN/BCCI. It was so easy to get into a stadium thats a breach in itself let alone anything else. Then the report of buses stopping on route to games so coaching staff could use a toilet, players leaving bubble to go to hospital then returning to the bubble without quarantining , these are all breaches and have been confirmed by various sources, not sure what other evidence your looking for or whether your genuinely in denial but the proofs all there.
 
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Ganguly is not alone.

===


Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) was one of the teams rocked by COVID-19 which led to the suspension of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Tuesday (May 04). BCCI decided to postpone the season indefinitely after bio-bubbles of as many as four teams reported COVID-19 cases. SRH wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha was among the players who tested positive for the contagious virus.

Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who was representing Sunrisers Hyderabad in the tournament, said he was quite surprised when he came to know about Saha's case. Khaleel, who has returned to his hometown Tonk, in Rajasthan, said all players and support staff were following strict protocols inside the team's bio-bubble and Saha testing positive left him surprised.

It started on Monday (May 03) when two Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) players Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier tested positive for the virus. On the same day, three cases were detected in the Chennai Super Kings contingent before Delhi Capitals spinner Amit Mishra and Saha tested positive on Tuesday. Chakravarthy had reportedly gone for a shoulder scan to a hospital while following all protocols but is likely to have gotten infected in the process.

The virus then infected his teammate Warrier, who had met Mishra after the game between KKR and Delhi which saw the infection spread from the KKR to the Delhi Capitals camp. Nonetheless, Saha testing positive came as a huge surprise to everyone due to no contact with any positive cases.

"We all were in a bio bubble and were following strict guidelines. There was no chance of coming into contact with anyone. I am really surprised that it (virus entering bio bubble) happened. As per the protocols, we were asked to remain in our room, not to contact anyone (in person), proper hand wash/sanitisation, and wear masks. While dining or talking to any coaches or management, we were asked to wear masks. We all were following the protocols religiously and without any mistakes," Khaleel was quoted as saying by TimesofIndia.com.

Khaleel was in his hotel room in Delhi with the rest of the squad when the news of Saha testing positive first came out. The pacer revealed one of the team members knocked on his door and told him to remain inside before he was asked to pack his bags and leave for home. The pacer took a taxi from the airport to reach his home in Tonk.

"I was in my room and I was informed that someone from our team has tested positive. We were all asked to remain in our rooms and wait for further instructions from the BCCI. After some time, the BCCI protocols list came in and we were asked to pack our bags and leave for home. BCCI and the franchise asked us to reach home safely. This was the first thing they conveyed to us," said Khaleel.

https://www.timesnownews.com/sports...hed-bio-bubble-srh-pacer-khaleel-ahmed/753812
 
Don't you know? It was a new spontaneously generated corona virus. The IPL variant. happened when one of the players started eating the MRF BAT
 
The disbelief is, well, unbelievable!

==

SRH mentor Laxman Still Wondering How Saha Got Infected: On Tuesday, soon after reports emerged that Sunrisers Hyderabad's wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha and Delhi Capitals' Amit Mishra have tested positive for coronavirus, IPL 2021 was suspended with immediate effect. However, Laxman is still wondering where and how Saha could have been infected since they were taking all necessary precautions. "Wriddhi was slated to play Sunday's match against Rajasthan Royals but felt a little under the weather on Saturday night. We immediately placed him in isolation and, despite our prayers, he returned a positive test. We are still wondering how, despite taking all precautions, Wriddhi got infected," Laxman wrote in his column for Times of India.

https://www.news18.com/cricketnext/...send-back-contingent-home-safely-3711542.html
 
MenInG said:
The disbelief is, well, unbelievable!

==

SRH mentor Laxman Still Wondering How Saha Got Infected: On Tuesday, soon after reports emerged that Sunrisers Hyderabad's wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha and Delhi Capitals' Amit Mishra have tested positive for coronavirus, IPL 2021 was suspended with immediate effect. However, Laxman is still wondering where and how Saha could have been infected since they were taking all necessary precautions. "Wriddhi was slated to play Sunday's match against Rajasthan Royals but felt a little under the weather on Saturday night. We immediately placed him in isolation and, despite our prayers, he returned a positive test. We are still wondering how, despite taking all precautions, Wriddhi got infected," Laxman wrote in his column for Times of India.

https://www.news18.com/cricketnext/...send-back-contingent-home-safely-3711542.html
Click to expand...

Either Saha knows something the other's don't or there was something wrong with the bubble for some reason these people can't figure out. The cases in the other teams seem to suggest the latter.
 
The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League was suspended indefinitely after 29 matches were played due to a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases inside the bio-bubble. Two IPL matches were postponed (Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday and Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians on Tuesday) after two players from the KKR camp and Wriddhiman Saha from the SRH unit had returned positive results, before the BCCI took the call to halt this season's IPL.

As the BCCI looks to create a back-up, its main aim is to eye a window in the calendar year to stage the remainder of the IPL. With a packed FTP schedule, the board might be in for a tedious task, and if for some reason, the same cannot be figured out, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly indicated a loss of over INR 2000 crore or more.

"If we fail to complete the IPL, the loss will be close to INR 2500 crore (USD 340 million approximately). That is going by early estimates," Ganguly told The Telegraph in an interview.

"There has got to be a lot of shuffling. Only a day has passed since we suspended the IPL. We have to speak to other boards and see if a window can be made available before the T20 World Cup. Lot of things are involved and we will slowly start working on them."

On Thursday, several counties in England stepped up and offered to play host to the remainder of the IPL. MCC, Surrey, Warwickshire and Lancashire are part of group, even though existing schedule remains a challenge. But at the same point, it makes sense because India are to travel to England for a four-month long tour to play the World Test Championship against New Zealand, followed by five Tests against the host country that go till September.

Ganguly doesn't consider the IPL suspension a blow, but admits things will have to get better before a decision can be taken. As for the whether the current situation puts the status of the ICC T20 World Cup – which is scheduled to take place later this year in India – in jeopardy, Ganguly feels assuming anything right now won't be right.

"I wouldn't say it (IPL suspension) is a blow... Don't forget last year we had no Wimbledon or Olympics. These are extraordinary times and we have to take it in our stride and move on. We can't do much in these situations. Perhaps we have to only wait for things to improve," he said.

"Let's see what happens to the World T20. There's still some time left and we don't know how things will pan out a month later... Can't comment right now. But let’s not assume things."


https://www.hindustantimes.com/cric...pen-in-india-pat-cummins-101620380801306.html
 
The heads buried in sand theme going strong still
 
And here I thought Saurav was a man with integrity. Shame. Players testing positive means either a breach or the bubble was never secure. Plain and simple. He doesn’t have the courage to pick an escape goat, nor will he admit incompetence but he’s ready to lose his credibility and look stupid.
 
Saurav Ganguly has become a puppet of Jay Shah(son of Amit Shah). :inti
 
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Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hinted that the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 will be played at some point of the year despite the tedious task of identifying another window in a packed cricket calendar. As it turns out, board president, Sourav Ganguly is not too hopeful of hosting the remainder of the tournament in India.

The BCCI suspended IPL 2021 indefinitely on May 4 after positive Covid-19 cases emerged in bio-bubbles across multiple franchises in Ahmedabad and Delhi. As many as 29 matches were played before the call was taken. India players and a section of overseas contingent have returned home after the BCCI announced the decision earlier this month.

Sourav Ganguly has said it's too early to discuss the details of finding another window for IPL 2021 but pointed out that it might become difficult to host the remainder of the tournament in India, which has been badly hit by a second wave of Covid-19 pandemic with the country registering over 4,00,000 new cases per day over the last few days. Reports have emerged that the UK might be a possible venue or the BCCI might even take the IPL back to the UAE if the T20 World Cup is moved out of the country.

"No. India is supposed to go to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and five T20Is. There are lots of organisational hazards like 14-day quarantine. It can't happen in India. This quarantine is tough to handle. Too early to say how we can find a slot to complete the IPL," Ganguly told Sportstar when asked if the remainder of the IPL season could be held before or after the England series.

Meanwhile, Ganguly also said the BCCI would have carried on with IPL 2021 had positive Covid-19 cases not emerged from the bio-bubbles of franchises. As many as 8 players and a couple of support staff have tested positive for the virus so far since the start of the month.

Ganguly added that it's easy to say that the IPL 2021 should have been postponed earlier in hindsight, pointing out that European football leagues have carried on despite players testing positive for Covid-19.

"You can say that now in hindsight that the IPL should have been called off earlier. Mumbai and Chennai (legs) did not have cases. Only when the IPL reached Delhi and Ahmedabad did the cases rise. People will say a lot of things in any case.

"The English Premier League had so many people affected. But they could reschedule the matches. But you can't do that with IPL. You stop it for seven days and it is done. Players go back home and then the process of quarantine starts from scratch," he added.

"As I said, we would have continued if there were no cases. We would have completed the IPL. The players were in the bubble and there were no crowds at the venues. Players were not getting infected. Once the players got affected, we called it off. Look at leagues going around the world. They have had Covid cases, but they have continued."

Notably, the Pakistan Cricket Board, which postponed the 2021 edition of Pakistan Super League, is reportedly in talks to host the remainder of the tournament in the UAE. The BCCI had hosted IPL 2020 in UAE amid the pandemic without any major hiccups.

The BCCI announced a 20-member India squad for the World Test Championship Final and a 5-match Test series that will be played in August-September in England. The BCCI president, who has recovered from a heart ailment, said he is likely to travel to the UK to witness India in action in the final of the inaugural edition of the WTC against New Zealand.

https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/ip...nguly-remainder-india-host-1800572-2021-05-09
 
There has been scrutiny regarding the conduct of the Indian Premier League 2021. The 14th season of the IPL was suspended indefinitely after several cases of Covid-19 were reported among the players and the support staff. It has led to criticism being leveled at the organisers for conducting the tournament in India despite a huge wave of novel coronavirus cases engulfing the country.

Players have continuously maintained that they felt safe inside the bio-bubble created for their safety before some players were infected. However, Sunrisers Hyderabad wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha has indicated that the bio-bubble for IPL-14 was not as foolproof as the one in UAE last year, becoming the first India player to publicly question, even if subtly, the tightness of the controlled environment.

The 36-year-old Saha was among the players who contracted the dreaded virus before the IPL stumbled to an abrupt halt midway into its 14th season after multiple COVID-19 cases were reported in its bio-bubble.

During an interview with PTI, Saha spoke about the bio-bubble breach in India and said it would have been better if the IPL was held in UAE, like last year.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cric...ons-ipl-bubble-tightness-101621743333484.html
 
MenInG said:
There has been scrutiny regarding the conduct of the Indian Premier League 2021. The 14th season of the IPL was suspended indefinitely after several cases of Covid-19 were reported among the players and the support staff. It has led to criticism being leveled at the organisers for conducting the tournament in India despite a huge wave of novel coronavirus cases engulfing the country.

Players have continuously maintained that they felt safe inside the bio-bubble created for their safety before some players were infected. However, Sunrisers Hyderabad wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha has indicated that the bio-bubble for IPL-14 was not as foolproof as the one in UAE last year, becoming the first India player to publicly question, even if subtly, the tightness of the controlled environment.

The 36-year-old Saha was among the players who contracted the dreaded virus before the IPL stumbled to an abrupt halt midway into its 14th season after multiple COVID-19 cases were reported in its bio-bubble.

During an interview with PTI, Saha spoke about the bio-bubble breach in India and said it would have been better if the IPL was held in UAE, like last year.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cric...ons-ipl-bubble-tightness-101621743333484.html
Click to expand...

There was always going to be a case or two if the IPL was conducted in India.

Ganguly can lie all he wants, but the virus does not spontaneously appear inside a bubble if there were no sources of contact.

It is a different story if BCCI is unable to figure out who came in contact with the virus and how so.

Saha's statement pretty much confirms that the BCCI did not have every end covered, and it also explains the difficulties of hosting large tournaments in the subcontinent.
 
TheNightWatchman said:
It's possible the virus spontaneously formed within the players and didn't need to be in close contact with someone who had COVID
Click to expand...

Are you joking or being serious?

It doesn’t just form out of nowhere, there would have been contact or some close of close contact somewhere
 
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