IPL gets a breather as Cricket Australia finds hosting T20 World Cup this year ‘unrealistic’

Earlier this year in March, the COVID-19 pandemic made sure that the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) had to be postponed for an indefinite time period. Currently with six months left this year, the Board of Control (BCCI) is in a fix, regarding when to host the showpiece event. The T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November added to their issues as well.

The world’s richest cricket board said that they would be waiting for the ICC to take a call on the World Cup before making a decision on the IPL. Interestingly, Cricket Australia (CA) included the mega event in their summer schedule, released a few weeks ago. However, CA also reckons that the multi-national event taking place seems “unrealistic”, bearing in mind the current scenario.

CA understands it’s tough to host the World Cup

“While it hasn’t been formally called off this year, or postponed, trying to get 16 countries into Australia in the current world, where most countries are still going through COVID spiking, I think it’s unrealistic, or it’s going to be very, very difficult,” Carl Eddings, the CA chairman, was quoted as saying in Times Now

In the meantime, though there hasn’t been any official announcement, the BCCI can breathe a sigh of relief. In case the World Cup gets postponed, the board could use the window to host the tournament. Previously, Sourav Ganguly, the board present, said that they would be happy to host the tournament behind closed doors.

A number of countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sri Lanka have already expressed their desire to host the cash-rich T20 extravaganza. Recently, India called off their away series against the Lankans and Zimbabwe. For the time being, the ICC is still willing to wait and watch before taking a call on the World Cup.

As far as the IPL goes, it was scheduled to get underway on March 29 with the game between defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede Stadium. But the coronavirus pandemic leading to lockdowns ended up playing spoilsport.