Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao urges BCCI to include Hyderabad as a venue for IPL 2021

Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao on Sunday appealed to the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) to include Hyderabad as one of the venues for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL).

The BCCI is looking at four to five venues for holding the next edition of the IPL with Mumbai as a single host not looking feasible anymore following a surge in Covid-19 cases in and around the city.

Read | BCCI considering 4-5 IPL venues, concerned about Mumbai amid Covid-19 case spike

In a tweet, Rao said, "Open appeal to @BCCIand @IPL office bearers to include Hyderabad as one of the venues for upcoming IPL season Our effective Covid containment measures are reflected in our low number of cases among all metro cities in India & we assure you of all support from the Govt".

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) recorded 27 new Covid-19 cases out of the 176 reported in Telangana on Saturday, the state government said.

The 14th edition of the league is scheduled to start in the second week of April. The tournament had to be taken to the UAE last year because of the pandemic.