IPL in UAE: Why BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit head believes IPL 2020 is going to be more secure

The head of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Ajit Singh, expressed his thoughts on how the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to be comparatively more secure because of the biosecure environment.

"One can't say whether it is going to be the safest one, but definitely it is going to be better from the anti-corruption point of view because there is going to be no interaction between the teams, support staff, and outsiders. This season is going to be comparatively more secure. But, still, it is not (going to be) foolproof thing," ESPNcricinfo quoted Singh as saying.

IPL 2020 will be played over 53 days, from September 19 to November 10, across three venues in the UAE -- Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai.

However, the cash-rich tournament was previously scheduled to begin from March 29 but got postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic scare in India.

Singh further stated that "They throng around the hotel, keep sitting in the hotel lobby, come as sponsors asking players to become brand ambassadors, which is basically a cover [for corrupt activity], so that sort of a thing would be avoided this time."

However, Singh said players could be approached through social media.

"Instead of person-to-person communication or direct face-to-face communication, there could be communication through social media. If somebody approaches me on Facebook and then it starts as an innocent post coming from a fan, ultimately if you find that there is some possibility of being able to compromise the person you might make an attempt. So we have to continue with the [anti-corruption] education," he said.

The other challenge Singh feels would be the betting market as he said, "We would be monitoring the betting market, how the betting market is going, does it give suspicious trends. And one has to keep the informers active and then also monitor social media."

(With ANI inputs)