There has been no official word from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding the status of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) which was earlier postponed to 15 April in view of the coronavirus pandemic. However, it would be “too premature” to state whether or not the tournament can be slotted in place of the ICC T20 World Cup in October-November as per Board treasurer Arun Dhumal.
“Right now, the picture is very hazy. We don’t even know when the lockdown will end and if we don’t know, how can we even have a meaningful discussion. Once we get a clarity from the government, we can then sit and take fresh stock of the situation. Any speculation about it’s future will be premature,” Dhumal told PTI during an exclusive interaction.
“Everyone wants IPL to happen but let’s have some clarity first.”
The BCCI treasurer also made it pretty clear that there was no scheduled conference call between the office bearers of the board regarding the tournament on Monday.
“We office-bearers are in constant touch. It’s not just IPL but there is huge amount of pending administrative work, legal issues that needs to be studied. But there was no conference call scheduled today as there is nothing to discuss till current situation persists,” Dhumal said.
Dhumal was quick to give some practical inputs into the possible reshuffling of the Indian Premier League as speculations are rife about the tournament being slotted in a later window in the cricketing calendar.
“Tell me one thing. Firstly, if Australia is under lockdown for six months, how can we conclude that they will allow their players to travel from next month right away? What if the travel restrictions for its citizens are still in place. How will they come to India then? And don’t forget that other boards also need to agree,” Dhumal said.
“Secondly, even if the lockdown ends in India, what if some of the major cities still have those COVID ‘hotspots’? Can we risk the lives of our sportspersons? Thirdly, the players are likely to go without training for months.
“Even if we are in a position to conduct a tournament, for international players, we need to give them a bare minimum time to do full-fledged training before we can start a tournament. All these factors can only be clear when we are in a position to discuss,” Dhumal concluded.