The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unforeseen crisis and like all other sports across the globe, cricket has suffered a huge blow as well. Apart from several high-valued international series, the Indian Premier League has also been suspended due to the coronavirus situation.
The IPL 2020, which was scheduled to be played from March 29 was earlier postponed to April 15 before it was suspended due to the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus till further notice.
However, there have been various media reports suggesting that the BCCI is mulling alternative windows like August-September and October-November to stage the 2020’s edition of the cash-rich tournament and is creating pressure on ICC to postpone the T20 World Cup.
A report by news agency IANS revealed that the BCCI was looking at the possibility to host the 13th edition of the IPL from September 25 to November 1.
Meanwhile, amid the growing tussle between ICC ad BCCI, Australia captain Aaron Finch believes that fight between the cricket board to stage fixtures and satisfy their interest in post-COVID-19 world would not help the game. He called for compromise from all the stakeholders to get cricket back on its feet.
“It will get to a point, not just for IPL but for all cricket, there’ll be a compromise from a lot of different stakeholders – organisations, countries, players, the ICC – to get cricket back and countries thriving again,” Finch was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Former Australian cricketer Allan Border earlier said that postponing the ICC T20 World Cup to accommodate the IPL during that time would be “just a money grab”.
“(I’m) not happy with that. The world game should take precedence over local competition. So, the World T20, if that can’t go ahead, I don’t think the IPL can go ahead. I would question that decision — it’s just a money grab, isn’t it, that one?” Border said in ABC’s Grandstand Cafe radio program as quoted by PTI.
“The World T20 should take precedence, for sure. The home boards should stop their players going to the IPL if that’s the case,” the former Australian captain added.