Amid the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak in India, Rajasthan Royals’ star bowler Jaydev Unadkat said he is really optimistic about the chances of Indian Premier League (IPL) happening this year.
The pacer also said he is fine with the idea of hosting the 13th edition of the premier T20 league outside India, given the safety for the players and other supporting staff as the COVID-19 cases have been rapidly increasing in the country with the number currently standing at 367K with over 12000 deaths.
Given the Coronavirus cases and lockdown in India’s major cities, there are slim chances of IPL 2020 happening this year amid the global health crisis, but still, the BCCI is hoping to host the lucrative franchise event – which has been suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the tournament will take place this year and Unadkat was delighted with the news, saying even if the IPL 2020 goes ahead outside India, it would just be a one-off and everyone will be happy that cricket is resuming in some form following a long break.
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Unadkat told ANI, “To be honest, as a cricketer I am just waiting for the sport to start, the IPL can take place in India or it can take place out of India, in any case, safety and health of players should be the first priority, I think that if the concerned authorities feel that hosting the IPL outside of India will provide more safety and it will be more viable, then they should go ahead with it because everyone is waiting for the sport to start in some form.”
He signed off by saying, “We should not really worry about anything apart from resuming the sport, if IPL takes place outside India this year, it would just be a one-off and it would not be repeated in the future, we all need to deal with it, I do not mind IPL happening outside India, I am really optimistic of IPL taking place this year.”
(With ANI Inputs)
