Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore feels that there should be no tinkering with the format of the upcoming IPL season to make space in the COVID hit cricket calendar. He, on Thursday, asserted that all the franchises want the event to be held in its complete form.
"One thing that I feel strongly about and we feel strongly about is that we should not tinker with the quality of the product that we have," Mysore told reporters in a virtual news conference.
The BCCI had to postpone the IPL indefinitely due to the outbreak of the deadly virus as the whole country went into the lockdown on March 24 with the 13th edition scheduled to begin on March 29.
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"The quality of the product is what has made it really, really special. I think it is safe to say that the collective view is that we have to have the tournament in its full format, the same number of games, with all the players part of it," he said.
There are suggestions that the IPL could be conducted without overseas players, keeping in mind the restrictions on travel imposed by various countries besides reducing the number of games to fit it into a shorter window.
"I think the majority of the franchises, I know there are one or two who have answered it slightly differently, but when I talk to them offline, they say that they were misquoted. I would hope that whichever window, we end up staging the IPL that we'll be in a position to achieve that," he added.
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Mysore also pointed out that foreign players make a crucial part of the Indian Premier League.
"It is primarily our Indian players who are the backbone of any team. But I think we should recognize that when you look at even our own team, a Sunil Narine, an Andre Russell, an Eoin Morgan and now Pat Cummins comes as a combination to our excellent lineup that we have on the Indian side, makes it really special," he explained.
(PTI inputs)
