IPL 2021 to begin on April 9: BCCI source
New Delhi, Mar 6: The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin on April 9, exactly 12 days after the Indian cricket team completes its ongoing assignment against England, a BCCI source revealed on Saturday.
The third and last match of the ODI series against England will be held on March 28 in Pune. The duration of the popular T20 league has been fixed keeping in mind India's international schedule.
"We have provisionally decided that IPL will start on April 9 and end on May 30," a senior BCCI source told PTI.
"The formal approval of dates and venues will be done during Governing Council meeting next week," the source added.
Considering the prevailing circumstances when efforts are being made to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BCCI has decided to host IPL matches in five cities -- Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
The city of Mumbai will have to get clearance for hosting matches as the state of Maharashtra has seen a spurt in cases of late.
The allotment of matches to Chennai and Kolkata would be done, keeping in mind the state Assembly election scheduled there in the next few weeks.
Mumbai Indians had won the 2020 edition that was held in the UAE in a bio-secure bubble.
Also, the Asia Cup, that was scheduled in June this year in India, stands cancelled " now that India have qualified for the World Test Championship final, courtesy their 3-1 series win over England."
India beat England by a comprehensive margin of an innings and 25 runs on Saturday in the fourth and final Test to finish on top of the ICC Test championship table with 520 points. They will take on New Zealand in June at the Lord's for the inaugural title.
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Pakistan and India, they were going at it, I ended the war: Trump
New York/Pennsylvania (PTI): US President Donald Trump said India and Pakistan “were going at it” and he ended the conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, repeating the claim once again.
Trump has so far repeated the claim nearly 70 times that he stopped the conflict in May between India and Pakistan.
“In 10 months, I ended eight wars, including Kosovo (and) Serbia, Pakistan and India, they were going at it. Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia.… Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Trump said on Tuesday in remarks to his supporters at a rally on the economy in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
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India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention in resolving the conflict.
Meanwhile, Trump said Cambodia and Thailand have started fighting again and “tomorrow”, he will make a phone call to those countries.
“Who else could say I'm going to make a phone call and stop a war of two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia. They are going at it. But I’ll do it. So we're making peace through strength. That's what we're doing,” Trump said.
On immigration, Trump said that for the first time in 50 years, “we now have reverse migration, which means more jobs, better wages and higher income for American citizens, not for illegal aliens.”
He said that he has announced a permanent pause on “Third World migration”, including from “hellholes" like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.
“…Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few. Let's have a few from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they're good at is going after ships.”
Last month, Trump had said he would “permanently pause" migration from “all Third World Countries” and deport foreign nationals who are a “security risk” as his administration intensified its crackdown on immigration in the wake of the killing of a National Guard member by Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
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US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued new guidance allowing for “negative, country-specific factors” to be considered when vetting aliens from 19 high-risk countries.
These countries are Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Yemen.
These are the same countries that were subject to a travel ban announced by Trump in a proclamation issued in June this year.
The proclamation ‘Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats' restricted and limited the entry of nationals of these countries into the US and applied to both immigrants and nonimmigrants.
