The COVID-19 outbreak has no doubt wreaked havoc in the sporting world with sporting calendars suffering a significant loss in terms of game time and the economic aspect of it as well.
Due to this development, indications have shown that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has a contingency plan in place. One of it is staging of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League which was scheduled to start on March 29 to between October and November.
However, this can only be possible provided the International Cricket Council (ICC) postpones the men’s T20 World Cup scheduled for that time of the year.
India is currently on a 21-day lockdown in order to curtail the spread of the dreaded virus which has left over20000 people dead globally.
On the possibility of this happening, a BCCI official revealed that there have been meetings on hosting the IPL later in the year but can only work out if the World T20 scheduled for October 18 to November 15 in Australia is postponed.
With Australia planning a six-month potential lockdown, this might change and the ICC might be forced to postpone the tournament as well. This same pattern could be replicated by the UK Government as the dreaded virus continues to spread.
With a decision yet to made by the Indian authorities on border restriction, the official said the only time possible to hold the tournament is between October and November.
With this plan colliding with the T20 World Cup, the position of the ICC is yet to be known. So, the plan of the BCCI can’t override the governing body except it posponed the competition.
Meanwhile, if many countries closed their borders for six months, it will only be able to open it in the first week of October. As a result of this difficult times, the officials noted that there will have to be a lot of calculations in a bid to bring things under control.
This is because there is no open window next year. So, it means if the T-20 World Cup is postponed, it wil have to be held in 2022.
As things stand, the BCCI will wait on the decision reached by the ICC.
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed
