The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) may not have any business at the ticket windows, being played behind closed doors in UAE amid COVID-19 pandemic, but BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said as a TV-only event, it is expected to break all records and be extremely beneficial to the broadcasters.
The eight-team sixty-match tournament will kickstart on September 19 and run across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah till November 10.
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"Crowds will watch it on television...they (the broadcasters) are actually expecting the highest rating of IPL this season because they believe if (people) don't turn up in the ground, they will be actually watching on their television sets," Ganguly said while delivering an online lecture as part of the 'Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series'. "There is a positive in everything."
The former India captain believes playing IPL in these troublesome times will help people take their minds off the concerns and bring back a sense of normalcy.
Ganguly was also upbeat over cricketers adjusting swiftly to deafening silence at stadiums.
"Because of the COVID and infection, you don't want people to be too close to each other, but very soon you will see there will be 30 percent people in the ground with social distancing," he said.
"They are properly tested and allowed to enter the ground. But I think that is going to happen over a period of time," added Ganguly, hinting possibility of IPL's later matches being opened for fans.
"...it is actually an effort to bring life back to normal. This will go on for another five-six months till the vaccine comes and I am sure everything then will be back to normal."
Ganguly is quite optimistic that we aren't too far away from overcoming the pandemic.
"This is just a virus which is already weakening and we will hopefully get past it. These are small bumps in our life, and we have to get past it. We could have easily avoided the IPL...but then, that's what we humans are and that's why we have survived all the difficult times."
"There have been wars, which people have come out from, there have been other bugs which people have come out from over the years."
"It is only because mankind, people like you and me, and all of us in this discussion have the mental mindset to say 'hey listen if people are pushing us to the wall, we will find a way back and get life normal'. I think that is important," he concluded.
(Inputs from PTI)
