On Thursday, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly stated that the board is ready to host the IPL behind closed doors and is exploring various options to stage the tournament in this year.
The board president pointed out in his letter to the affiliated members, “The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage the IPL this year, even if it means to play the tournament in empty stadiums. The fans, franchisees, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being held this year.”
The IPL was scheduled to start from March 29 but was indefinitely postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is being speculated that if the ICC decided to postpone the T20 World Cup, then the tournament might be held in the October-November.
Besides that, he also brought good news on the letter, “Recently a lot of players, both from India and other countries, participating in IPL have also shown their keenness on being a part of this year’s IPL. We’re optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this.”
The board president disclosed further, “The BCCI is in the process of developing a COVID-19 Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for all State Cricket Associations. Essentially this SOP is being made with a view of providing our Members with a standard set of guidelines which will help the associations to resume cricket in their respective areas.”
Speaking of domestic cricket, Ganguly pointed out that, “Moving ahead, the BCCI is in the process of planning the domestic competitions for the next cricketing season. We are working on various formats and options in our endeavour to ensure that various domestic tournaments are held, they stay competitive and participation is feasible. The BCCI will come up with more details on this front over the next couple of weeks”.
