Much awaited 13th edition of Indian Premier League is now looking bright to be happening with government has opened stadiums with no allowance of spectators. And this makes BCCI happy and delight to get some positive hopes of hosting the twenty20 tournament.
In an interview with IANS, one of the BCCI sources has said that the governing council is feeling positive and we are looking forward to seeing how things can go on. There are lots of things to work on to organize IPL 2020 and the board is looking for hosting the championship in September-November window.
“It is still early days as a lot of other things have to fall in place for this to materialize, but yes, the BCCI is looking at a September 25-November 1 window provided the number of cases in the country comes down and the government does give a go-ahead. As I said, a lot of things do need to fall in place, but yes these dates are being talked about and contingency planning is on,” a source told IANS.
Although BCCI members said that it would not be easy to say anything on a brighter note as the COVID pandemic has spread dramatically in the country and we have to keep eye on the position of it. All sporting activities have been stopped from two months around the globe but with the start of Bundesliga, we can hope to see more sports to get back on the track including cricket.
However England is set to host Pakistan in July meanwhile Sri Lanka is eyeing to organize tri-series including India and Bangladesh. So with these kinds of the restart, we can hope to get IPL 2020 organize in September and November.
“Yes, we have been told that we should plan with an eye on these dates, and in fact, we are looking to plan our build-up in such a manner. But then again, it all depends on the country’s position with regards to the pandemic. There is no denying that we are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that the government will continue with the brilliant job they have done and we will see a drop in the number of cases per day,” he added.
The fact is Coronavirus has spread a lot, not only to India but to major countries like Australia. The scheduled t20 world cup 2020 is all set to take place between 18 October and 15 November but it is highly expected that ICC will postpone the tournament and thus it makes way for Indian Premier League to take place.
An official from IPL franchise also shared his views regarding BCCI proposal of hosting the showpiece event.
“Yes, we have been told about the window, but nothing yet on the venues or how to go about the logistics. We need to understand those sides as part of the next step of preparation as foreign players will need to come in and we have to ensure that government directives with regards to fighting the pandemic are fully abided by. I am sure we will get more clarity as time moves forward as preparations will start to say around mid-August if we have to play our first match around the end of September,” he quoted.
Foreign players will have to come to India for participating in the league and it would be a challenge for BCCI to maintain government directives. Just like players are moved inside-outside of the team, BCCI needs to focus on making players quarantine ahead of the start of the tournament. As if VIVO IPL 2020 starts, you have options to play games online as well whether you play video games based on IPL theme or cards or Andar Bahar or casino. So much fun will be there as IPL starts.