Dates for the rejigged schedule of IPL 2020 is awaited, as West Indies looks to potentially host South Africa for Tests or T20Is in September this year, Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave said.
The Proteas were originally due to travel to the Caribbean for two Tests and five T20Is in July-August, but the visit was postponed in wake of the health threat amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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While the Test series is part of the World Test Championship cycle, the T20Is would've helped the two teams prepare for the now-deferred World Cup in Australia.
"We very much hope that South Africa will be able to come here in September for either a T20-only tour or a Test-only tour at the very least," Grave told 'Starcom Radio’s Mason and Guests' cricket show.
"It will be dependent on the IPL. South Africa have a number of their Test players who have IPL contracts, whereas in this current Test team we don’t have any IPL players," he added.
On Friday (July 24), IPL governing council chairman Brijesh Patel said that the BCCI is looking to start the league's 13th edition in UAE from September 19, with the final on November 8.
However, the board will be able to officially confirm any dates only when the government here gives permission to shift and organise the event outside India.
"We won’t be able to play Test cricket against South Africa during the IPL – Cricket South Africa have made that very clear to us," said Grave. "They’ve got a commitment to their players to allow them to go and play in the IPL."
West Indies' own players will go straight into another edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) after their return from the ongoing Test tour of England. The CPL 2020 is expected to kickstart on August 18 and run until September 10.
“The plan as we are working on now is that the players would come home (from England), they will have the weekend at home. Those that are in the Caribbean Premier League will head down to Trinidad on probably August 3 so it’s a quick turnaround," said Grave.
"CPL finishes September 10. We hope very much that South Africa will follow immediately after that. Whether we can get the full tour in or we’re going to have to look at a split tour between the Tests and the T20s, we don’t know."
"We obviously hear and read that India are trying to get the IPL towards the back end of September either in India, which I know is their preferred choice, or the UAE, which is their backup choice, but there’s been no announcement on that yet," he added.
(Inputs from PTI)
