New Zealand leg-spinner and Rajasthan Royals’ spin consultant Ish Sodhi believes that the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) will have only option to reschedule their domestic season if the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 is rescheduled to a possible October-November window due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic might lead to the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 to be held in October-November in Australia – which has been raising talks of the IPL 13 being potentially held in the same window with several former cricketers and experts calling for the same.
While New Zealand’s domestic season starts in October and ends in April, the first part of the Kiwis domestic summer would be overlapping with IPL 2020 if the tournament is held this year in place of the T20 World Cup 2020 window.
There are as many as seven New Zealand international players set to play in the IPL 2020 and they are Sodhi himself (RR spin consultant), Jimmy Neesham (Kings XI Punjab), Lockie Ferguson (Kolkata Knight Riders), Mitchell McClenaghan and Trent Boult (Mumbai Indians), Kane Williamson (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Mitchell Santner (Chennai Super Kings).
Well, Sodhi said the NZC needs to find a way to balance their domestic calendar if the board wants its best players to play both in the domestic cricket and IPL 2020 at the same time.
Sodhi told PTI during an interaction: “Cricket is New Zealand’s summer game that starts in October and ends in April. I don’t know but if IPL is held in October-November, then New Zealand Cricket (NZC) needs to find out a way to balance their domestic calendar also.”
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He further added, “NZC over the past few years has kept a dedicated window for IPL. Again, you want your best players to play domestic cricket and at the same time you don’t want them to lose out on an opportunity to play the Indian Premier League, which is easily the best T20 league in the world,”
Meanwhile, the spinner, who has played 17 Tests, 33 ODIs and 45 T20s for New Zealand so far, believes that the competitive cricket should only resume if there is a vaccine for the deadly virus.
The 27-year-old further stated: “There should be some sort of control on the spread of the virus as you would want complete health and safety measures being taken care of. It is best if there is a vaccine available and we can start the sport in a COVID-free world.”
On the other hand, the cricketer also lauded the efforts of the Jacinda Ardern government in containing the spread of the COVID-19 in New Zealand as the life is slowly coming back to normalcy in the country.
He added, “Our government has done a great job and we are slowly trying to get back to normal life. The gymnasiums are open now for the general public and you can do your physical training. Had it been a normal situation, I would have been in India with my Royals team.”
Sodhi also revealed his future plans beyond the game of cricket with the RR sponsoring his degree course in finance and management from Deakin University in Victoria (Australia).
He signed off by saying, “I am interested in the operational part of cricket, and in the future, I would like to manage the investment portfolios of players.”
(With PTI Inputs)
