Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has revealed that the board might have to suffer a huge loss to the tune of INR 2500 crores if the IPL 2021 isn't completed.
The 14th edition of IPL was indefinitely postponed with 29 of the 60 scheduled games played out. The COVID-19 cases among players and support staff inside the bio-bubble in as many as four teams led to the BCCI halting the tournament with immediate effect.
However, with 31 games still left to be played, BCCI is keen on resuming the tournament later in the year. Some reports suggested that the remaining part of the cash-rich league will be played in the September window.
IPL 2021: "There's no breach of the bubble", says BCCI President Sourav Ganguly
Reacting to the postponement of IPL 2021, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that if they failed to complete the marquee tournament, the board will suffer a huge loss of INR 2500 crores.
He added that they have to speak to other boards and look for the window to complete IPL before T20 World Cup.
"If we fail to complete the IPL, the loss will be close to INR 2500 crore (USD 340 million approximately). That is going by early estimates. There has got to be a lot of shuffling. Only a day has passed since we suspended the IPL.
“We have to speak to other boards and see if a window can be made available before the T20 World Cup. Lots of things are involved and we will slowly start working on them,” Sourav Ganguly told The Telegraph in an interview.
Ganguly while citing the example of Wimbledon and Olympics said that IPL suspension is not a blow.
"I wouldn't say it (IPL suspension) is a blow... Don't forget last year we had no Wimbledon or Olympics. These are extraordinary times and we have to take it in our stride and move on. We can't do much in these situations. Perhaps we have to only wait for things to improve," he said.
He added that they will see how can they host T20 World Cup – which is scheduled to take place later this year in India and feels assuming anything right now won't be right.
"Let's see what happens to the World T20. There's still some time left and we don't know how things will pan out a month later... Can't comment right now. But let’s not assume things,” he concluded.
(The Telegraph inputs)
