Former England captain and commentator Michael Atherton on Wednesday (May 5) said the Indian cricket board (BCCI) will find it really tough to reschedule the remainder of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) after the T20 league was postponed due to COVID-19 crisis.
The BCCI on Tuesday (May 4) announced that the IPL 2021 was postponed after four players tested COVID-19 positive, but insisted the world’s biggest T20 extravaganza was not canceled and hoping to stage the remaining games of the IPL 14 before or after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
As the BCCI can look for a window later this year to conduct the remaining IPL 14 matches, Atherton believes that it will be logistically a tough task to re-reschedule the league because the players from all over the world participate in the T20 league, as well as, due to the packed international calendar.
Atherton told Sky Sports: “It is a logistical challenge. The IPL not only has a high number of domestic Indian players but players from all around the world. The IPL is obviously worth a lot of money to the global game - I think it brings in a third of the game's global revenue - so people will be keen to see it staged, but the logistics are very tricky for the tournament now.”
The commentator further explained his point, “I just don't see where the gap [in the schedule] is. India will come to England for five Test matches in the summer - and that ends around mid-September. Then the T20 World Cup, which is supposed to be in India - but who knows, they may have to move that tournament to the UAE - takes place in mid-October.”
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He signed off by saying, “There is maybe a gap there, but all countries will already have their pre-T20 World Cup preparations baked in now - England are due to go to Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example - and you're also asking India's players, who have spent long, long periods inside these bubbles, and then asking them to spend more time in one, it seems hard to me.”
