The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly admitted that the chances of the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting any time soon is bleak.
Ganguly said that he will be able to give a concrete update on whether the IPL will be further deferred after speaking to BCCI office-bearers. "But practically speaking, when life has come to a standstill everywhere in the world, where does sport have a future in this," he told the New Indian Express.
"We keep monitoring developments. At the present moment, we can't say anything. And what is there to say anyway? Airports are shut, people are stuck at home, offices are locked down, nobody can go anywhere. And it seems this is how it's going to be till the middle of May," said Ganguly.
"Where will you get players from, where do players travel. It's just simple common sense that at the moment, nothing is in favour of any kind of sport anywhere in the world, forget IPL."
With the number of coronavirus infections and deaths continuing to rise, a number of states around the country have extended the lockdown which was initially supposed to end on April 15 -- the same date that IPL 2020 was postponed after the BCCI deemed that it would not be possible to start on March 29.
On Saturday, a BCCI official told PTI that "three states Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka have already said that they are extending lockdown. It is implied that IPL can't happen for the time being. But it will certainly not be cancelled. It will be postponed indefinitely."
"We can't cancel IPL as it means losses to the tune of Rs 3000 crore. The BCCI will work with all stakeholders to find a solution but for that normalcy needs to return. It's not possible for BCCI bigwigs to commit that IPL can happen at which particular slot," he added.
As of now, there are two options -- organising it in September and early October before the World T20 in Australia or hosting it at the expense of the World T20 if the ICC, Cricket Australia and other stakeholders agree.
"There are lot of ifs and buts at the moment. You can only have a meaningful discussion when things normalise. Till then, nothing can be said."
(With inputs from agencies)
