‘Rajasthan were the first ones to say they want the game to go on and they’re happy to play with just Indian players and so are we. I think most franchises are,’ said Delhi Capitals CEO Dhiraj Malhotra while discussing the future of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League.
The 2020 edition of the T20 league was supposed to get underway on 29 March but the nationwide lockdown announced earlier in the month has forced the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to postpone the season indefinitely. With COVID-19 cases in India rising at a steady and very concerning rate, there has been no update even as football leagues in Europe have slowly started training sessions of individual players, in line with government guidelines.
To talk about the changed sporting scene, following the coronavirus, stakeholders from European football and the Indian Premier League got together for a webinar hosted by India on Track where two IPL franchise officials discussed the road ahead for the league.
‘As of now, everyone’s trying very hard for the tournament (IPL) to happen. The BCCI is talking to all boards and trying to make it happen. The roadmap for cricket’s return is being discussed at every level. The ICC is also... with the (T20) World Cup was supposed to happen in October, they’re saying it might get shifted. If that happens, then it opens a window for the IPL. The IPL can be played over 35-37 days as well,’ said the Delhi Capitals CEO when asked about where the parent body of cricket stands with regards to the scheduling of an IPL in what will be a packed calendar if the virus is dealt with in the next few months.
The England Cricket Board has already postponed the opening season of their new brainchild ‘The Hundred’ to 2021 due to the coronavirus apart from also announcing no cricket will take place in the country before July.
Australia as a country has been seeing just over 20 new cases of COVID-19 in the last few days and already the cricket board is starting to put together an exit plan for a revival of the sport. However, allowing foreign visitors or even their own players to travel to foreign countries may not be on the agenda for the next few months. Which then puts in doubt the T20 World Cup they are slated to host starting 18 October. If the tournament is indeed pushed to later in their summer then the window does pose itself as the best chance for IPL 2020 to take place.
However, the question of foreign players not being allowed to travel by their countries and also not being allowed to enter India could be the next major roadblock for the IPL, if it does manage to sweep in on the T20 World Cup’s dates. To this, the Delhi Capitals CEO said his team and also fellow panel member Jake Lush McCrum’s Rajasthan Royals were ready to play this season with just Indian players.
Interestingly, Rajasthan have one of the strongest foreign line-ups in the IPL with Australia’s Steve Smith named their captain earlier this year. There are also 2019 World Cup winners Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, and Jofra Archer on their roster apart from pacer Oshane Thomas and South Africa’s David Miller.
Delhi have a more Indian core with youngster Shreyas Iyer captaining the team and stalwarts R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane brought in this season. There’s also Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw in their line-up that has Jason Roy, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, Alex Carey, and Shimron Hetmyer making up their overseas roster.
As Royals’ COO Jake Lush McCrum said, ‘The IPL has a huge impact on the 8 million fans but also to the economies of not only our cricket community but also the global cricket community which would all benefit if the IPL happens.’
And so, if things do come to making sacrifices and playing an all-Indian IPL, something, it seems, will eventually be better than nothing.
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