IPL is happening and on schedule confirms Vinod Rai

The Committee of Administrators (COA) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which is appointed by the Supreme Court of India, is headed by former CAG Vinod Rai, who rubbished all rumors of the IPL being scrapped off this year, and assured that it will be conducted as per schedule.

The tenth edition of the cash-rich domestic T20 league, which has gained immense success in its previous editions, is all set to kick off on April 5 and will be played for over 45 days and end on May 22. Earlier this year, when the Apex Court sacked Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke from their respective posts in the BCCI office, the board underwent drastic changes and brought in new reforms.

Rai confirmed, “IPL is happening and on schedule. We are trying our best to be in the saddle. Our commitment was to bring undiluted cricket to the country. It is a governance structure that we are playing with. The COA appointed by the Supreme Court are established people in the governance. Someone has played the game, someone has written about it,” he said in an interview with India Today.

Other notable names in the Court appointed cricket administrators include CEO and managing director of IDFC – Vikram Limaye, former women’s Test cricketer Diana Edulji and historian Ramachandra Guha.

“There is a model constitution put out and the state association will have to put it out. Most of the state associations are co-operating. We are trying to implement the recommendations as early as possible,” Rai told India Today.

When asked to give his opinion about the on-going India-Australia spats off the field, he opined that in an intense and high-voltage game, in which fans have high expectations from the team, such controversies and clashes are bound to happen.

“All of us want to play the game as per rules. There are instances because the competition is very intense. Players react differently under different circumstances,” he concluded.