574Views

Amid lockdown and increased numbers of Covid-19 cases through out India, BCCI officials hints at conducting IPL 2020 outside of India. According to the officials, Sri Lanka and UAE are the two preferred venues.

There is no question over the fact that IPL 2020 is the biggest cricket tournament to suffer due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The year 2020 was suppose to feature the cash rich Indian Premier League's 13th edition.

Image Credits: SportsCafe

Initially fixtured to commence on 29th March, the tournament then had to get suspended with no fix date amid Covid-19 breakout. Post to which there has been number of speculations over the future of IPL, ranging from from dates to the venues. Though, there has been no confirmation from the officials yet.

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, three weeks ago-had hinted at playing IPL 2020 in empty stadiums and IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel had opined on eyeing the September-October slot for the prestigious league.

Having said that, no official announcement has been made primarily because of ICC not taking a call on the future of ICC T20 World Cup 2020.

In a fresh development to events, a BCCI official has opined with respect to conducting IPL 2020 outside of India. Speaking to IANS, the official highlighted how the prevailing COVID-19 status in India might make it difficult to host IPL 2020 in the country.

“We are yet to decide on the venue but in all probability, it is going to be held outside this year. The condition in India does not look suited to have so many teams come in at one or two venues and then create an atmosphere which will be safe for the players as well as the general public even though the games may be played behind closed doors,” the official was quoted as saying by IANS.

“The race now is between UAE and Sri Lanka and we will need to decide on where we host the league depending on the situation there with regards to the pandemic. Logistics will also need to be looked into, so we will decide on it soon,” the official added.

It is also to be noted that after BCCI suspended the tournament until further notice. Sri Lanka and UAE were first to offer their countries to host the IPL 2020. With BCCI officials ruling out the possibility of the tournament being played in India it is very likely one of the offers is going to he accepted.

Sri Lanka, recently made an official announcement on the Lanka Premier League 2020 and also added that they were confident of conducting the tournament in August.

Adding to the confirmation to host IPL 2020 from BCCI. They are also awaiting an official response from the BCCI regarding the tour of India to Sri Lanka, which was scheduled to begin in June. The teams were scheduled to play three T20I and ODIs.

Cover Credits : InsideSport