Rajasthan Royals (RR) owner Manoj Badale had his concerns about the rescheduling of the suspended Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) this year due to the packed international cricket calendar.
The IPL 2021 was suspended indefinitely on May 4 due to the Coronavirus outbreak inside the bio-bubble with several cricketers and support staff infected by the deadly virus earlier this month.
Well now, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is looking for all possible windows to complete the 60-match tournament as only 29 games could possible till May 2 before it was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
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Recently, the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly hinted at a September window to hold the rest of the 31 games before the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in India later this year, but Badale feels it’s going to be a real challenge to reschedule the tournament.
While finding a window to resume the IPL 20201 is the main challenge, the RR owner said there is only a small possibility of hosting the lucrative T20 league on either side of the T20 World Cup 2021.
Badale said during a virtual interaction arranged by the RR: “We are following the media closely. I think the challenge is just finding a space in the calendar. In my opinion, the players are already playing too much cricket, but the calendars are incredibly packed.”
He added, “Particularly this year after COVID-19, boards from around the world are trying to get as many competitions and as many Test matches as possible. I think it’s going to be a real challenge. There is a possibility, a small possibility, that in September there might be something in the UK or possibly something in the UAE either side of the T20 World Cup but it’s going to be a real challenge.”
It is being said that the BCCI, the IPL franchises, sponsors, and everybody else involved with the tournament would face a loss of INR 2500 crore if the IPL 14 is not completed and Badale said the burden of the loss would be greater on individuals than the organizations and others.
The RR owner further explained, “There is of course a financial contribution (of IPL) for the game of cricket. A lot of people don’t realize that the IPL is a third of the global cricket economy. It’s just not the players who benefit from it.
There is a huge supply chain across India, the hotels, the travel industry, the support staff who rely on those earnings. We have a huge support staff even within a franchise for whom the earnings from the tournament is really important.”
He concluded, “The financial loss on the individuals is far more important than the financial loss of the franchises or for the organizers because those are well funded resilient organizations that can move on.”
(With PTI Inputs)
