The pandemic coronavirus has had a massive impact on human life across the globe. With no signs of improvement, the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been postponed until April 15 in the wake of COVID-19 which was scheduled to start from March 29.
According to reports, the IPL franchises are now looking to work overtime with the BCCI to find ways to make the 13th edition of the IPL a reality – even when the coronavirus outbreak has brought life to a standstill. As things stand, there is no clarity at all over whether the competition would start in April.
The apex body is in no mood to give up on its hopes of conducting the IPL and is reportedly planning to stage the tournament in July-September if things do not improve in the coming days. Until Saturday, playing a truncated league within a delayed, shortened window looked like the designated ‘Plan B’. But according to the Times of India, the BCCI do not want to conduct a truncated IPL.
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The BCCI wants all the 60 matches, if not now then later, if not in India then overseas, if not with all the available players then some. The Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the year 2020 does give the BCCI a window to host the tournament in July-September. During those two months, all the major teams barring England and Pakistan do not have a packed schedule.
“The 2009 IPL – in South Africa – was played inside 37 days. That’s five weeks and two days. If that kind of a window is made available, the IPL can be held partly in India and partly overseas, or the entire tournament can be shifted, depending on how the COVID-19 situation is globally,” a source in the know of things told the Times of India.
Meanwhile, all the sporting events have been called in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Almost 147 cases have been registered in the country and the concerned stakeholders are taking every possible measure to contain the situation.
