Australia opener David Warner has expressed his desire to play in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) if eventually it happens instead of the ICC T20 World Cup later this year.
“Look, there has been a lot of talk about the T20 World Cup being postponed, the challenges around getting every single nation that participates in the World Cup into Australia, given the fact that we have the quarantine for 14 days,” Warner said as quoted by India Today.
“Nevertheless, making sure we are restricting the chances of a Covid-19 outbreak back into Australia. Those restrictions are in place with the Australian government at the moment,” he added.
The IPL 2020, which was scheduled to be played from March 29 this year, was earlier postponed to April 15 before it was suspended indefinitely due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, several media reports had stated that the BCCI was reportedly looking at the possibility to host the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League – suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic – from September 25 to November 1, considering that the T20 World Cup would be postponed.
However, the ICC T20 World Cup is also scheduled to happen at the same time – October 18 to November 15. But the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has put the multination tournament in a flux.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board meeting last week kept the fate of this year’s T20 World Cup hanging as they dragged the matter until at least next month when another meeting will take place.
This week’s meeting, meanwhile, saw the Board expressing the desire to continue to assess the COVID-19 situation, as a part of the governing body’s contingency planning process to explore various ways to stage the events by working in tandem with the stakeholders and the regional governments.
“We have to obviously abide by those rules and obviously we await the decision from the ICC,” he added.
“If the World Cup avid can’t go ahead, then I am very sure and positive that we will be able to come and play in the IPL if that replaces the World Cup schedule.
“If that permits us from Cricket Australia giving the go-ahead to go over there, I am sure we will put our hands up and come and play cricket which at the end of the day is what we love.”