Cricketing tournaments went on toss after the coronavirus pandemic came into being in March. India has suffered from this, as the 2020 Indian Premier League ( IPL) has been uncertain in addition to the bilateral series against South Africa was canceled. It was scheduled to get underway on March 29 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Due to the lock-down and continuous increase COVID-19 cases, however, the tournament has been postponed for an indefinite period. The situation has worsened to the extent that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also been contemplating moving the T20 event out of India. The BCCI treasurer, Arun Dhumal, said it was about player safety.
“If it is the safety of our players to play IPL in India, that would be our first preference, and if the situation does not allow us and no choice is left, and there is a window, we can see IPL 2020 moving from India,” said Dhumal in an interview.
IPL has played overseas before
Back in 2008, the entire IPL had to be shifted to South Africa because of the political scenario in India. The Lok Sabha elections held, and there were no security forces for the matches. Even in 2014, a part of the tournament had to be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the same reason.
“In South Africa, we’ve done this in the past. We may not want to do that willingly, but if that’s the only way, then not a lot can be done, “said Dhumal.
Earlier, it was learned that the world’s richest cricket board could end up incurring losses worth INR 4,000 crore if the IPL doesn’t take place. The cricketers could also face pay cuts from the board.
In the past, Sri Lanka and the UAE had agreed to host the IPL if reports were to believe. Even so, the BCCI treasurer was concerned about travel limits and other pandemic problems.
“No country is safe from the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore it will not be easy to take players to Sri Lanka, Dubai, or South Africa if we were to move IPL from the country. The situation is nearly the same everywhere, and restrictions on international travel are also a problem.
“Sri Lanka was all right, but there have been cases in the last few days, so we have problems there, we have to handle them,” he said.
