Barely 48 hours after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to suspend the IPL because of a breach of the bio-security bubble, a group of counties in the UK have offered their grounds to complete the money-spinning league.

There has been no formal discussion between the BCCI and the eight franchises so far but The Telegraph understands that UAE has emerged as a viable option for two obvious reasons.

First, the Emirates hosted an almost incident-free IPL in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, and second, if the T20 World Cup is moved out of India and held there, the players will get an opportunity to acclimatise ahead of the showpiece event. It will also ease the logistical challenges involving players’ movements between bio-security bubbles.

The bigger question is, will the BCCI be able to find a suitable 20-day window in September ahead of the T20 World Cup to complete the 31 remaining matches? Sources have indicated that convincing other boards to allow their players to participate will be easier if it is held in the UAE.

India are scheduled to play five Tests in England this summer with the final one in Manchester ending on September 14. If the dates can be adjusted through mutual consent between the two boards so that the series gets over by the first week of September, there will be enough time to complete the IPL.

There’s talk of hosting it after the T20 World Cup in late November but BCCI has ruled it out since the Ashes is scheduled from early December this year. The English and Australian boards won’t be willing to release their players in such a scenario.

India are also scheduled to host New Zealand for two Tests and three T20Is after the T20 World Cup.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly told The Telegraph on Wednesday that “there has got to be a lot of shuffling” to make way for a window in September for the second phase of the IPL.

The franchises too seemed comfortable with the idea of hosting it in the UAE.

“There has been no discussions with the board regarding the remainder of the IPL.

We have been busy with making arrangements for the players’ departure so far. But if the proposal is put forward we will opt for the UAE,” said the chief executive of one of the franchises.

The option of hosting the remaining matches in India has been ruled out because most of the foreigners wouldn’t be willing to return to India in a hurry after their recent experience.

The BCCI though is hoping against hope that if the situation improves dramatically in the coming months they could have the World T20 in November in India and be saved of the troubles of hosting it in a foreign land. But unavailability of players from Australia and England could dampen such ambitions.

For now, the BCCI is not reading much into the proposal from the UK counties. MCC, Surrey and Warwickshire are learnt to be part of the group that have tentatively offered the use of their grounds for the IPL. Lancashire are also reportedly willing to allocate Old Trafford if the offer is accepted by the BCCI.

However, the formal proposal has to come from the ECB besides the approval from the UK government, which may not be forthcoming given that India has been placed on their “red list”.