Indian government on March 24 announced that the country will be under complete lockdown for the next three weeks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which effectively means that the 13th edition of IPL won’t begin from April 15 and might not happen this year.
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IPL 2020 was rescheduled from March 29 to mid-April due to the Coronavirus outbreak at the start of this month as the BCCI was hoping that the situation would improve.
Earlier, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had hinted that IPL 13 could be a truncated one and now a Hindustan Times report tells that the board is considering the August-September window to hold the event in case the country recovers from the deadly virus in time.
The report further claims that the BCCI has kept open the option of rescheduling the IPL any time between late August and early October (before the T20 World Cup in Australia). This, of course, depends on how the disease will be contained in the next few months.
The IPL organising committee will explore all the possibilities to conduct the tournament – from the participation of overseas cricketers to a curtailed event with only Indian players.
“We are closely monitoring the situation, and we will take a call accordingly. We are looking at a window in August-September,” a BCCI official anonymously quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
As per the Future Tours Programme (FTP), Team India are to play Asia Cup in September, host England for three ODIs and as many T20Is. Before entering into the T20 World Cup, the Men in Blue are also slated to play three T20Is in Australia. India’s three-ODI tour of Zimbabwe is also set to be postponed.
As for other teams, England are scheduled to host Pakistan (ends on September 2), Ireland (ends September 15) while South Africa’s tour of West Indies ends on August 16. Aussies aren’t playing any matches during this two-month period.
If everything remains under check, the BCCI can pull it off as both the Asia Cup and the IPL have a common broadcaster in Star Sports. However, the Indian board will have to persuade Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to postpone the Asia Cup to a later date. The broadcasters would have to lose a lot more if the IPL gets called off for the Asia Cup.
(Inputs from Hindustan Times)
