Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia said that hosting the Indian Premier League would not be the feasible option as it might take the international standard of the tournament down.

“IPL is an international tournament made by Indians. It is the premier cricketing event in the world, therefore it needs an international platform and international stars,” Wadia told PTI.

“But it remains to be seen which of the foreign players are allowed to travel at that time (considering the restrictions). I feel there are too many variables for the BCCI at the moment to even have a calculated guess on when it might happen.

“What if tomorrrow the cases keep rising, what happens then? It would be unwise to think of anything other than COVID-19 for the moment,” he said.

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals had voted for an only-Indian IPL, but their counterpart in Chennai had played the idea down.

The IPL 2020, which was scheduled to be played from March 29 this year, was earlier postponed to April 15 before it was suspended due to the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus till further notice.

However, several media reports including one by the news agency IANS suggested that the BCCI was looking at the possibility to host the 13th edition of the IPL from September 25 to November 1, considering that the T20 World Cup – scheduled to take place at the same time – would be postponed.

Meanwhile, a BCCI official on Wednesday also said that if the Indian government allows them they will “absolutely” have the IPL in October-November later this year.

“It all depends on the circumstances. If the situation improves as it is and if the government does give the go-ahead then absolutely we will have the IPL. Every player you speak to has been telling you that they are keen to be a part of the league and how they cannot wait for the tournament to happen. The feeling is same in the board as well. But the decision of the government is final and only after they say that the situation is right for a sporting event to happen that we will go ahead with the event during the end of September to early November window,” the official said.