The IPL governing body is yet to receive an go ahead signal from the Indian government in regards to the IPL 2020 to be conducted in UAE. It is to be noted that it has been more than 10 days the BCCI has applied for the government permissions.
Without receiving the official confirmation from the government the leagues dates can not be finalized or made official. The official paperwork with the Emirates Cricket Board also stands pending in this regard.
“We were expecting that all permissions will come in before the end of this week but now it seems it will take a few more days to get the nod from the government. It’s a mammoth task to shift the entire tournament to UAE. Whole lot of logistics has to be planned. It’s getting more challenging everyday. But hopefully we should get official permissions soon”, stated one of the senior BCCI functionaries.
With the IPL governing body set to conduct a meeting on sunday, the question has arised on how can the body make decisions if they haven't got the approval from the government yet. This has also put the franchises, broadcasters and other stakeholders at a dilemma and jittery.
In the recent statement by Arun Dhumal to InsideSport he stated that the meeting will now only be conducted once there is any news from the government.
“We have to follow all government protocols. We are waiting for the nod from the government, once that is done IPL GC members will meet. All of them are on standby and the meeting will be arranged at a very short notice”, Arun Dhumal, treasurer for the BCCI stated.
BCCI is yet to officially inform the dates of IPL 2020 as the dates provided now stand tentative. Neither the Broadcasters or the franchises have been officially informed. Apart from these factors, several other factors such as logistics, travel plans, accommodation and various concerns on the franchise’s side are also at stake.
Vowing to this the Emirates Cricket Board has also put the final deal with BCCI on hold. The BCCI had last week accepted the ‘letter of intent’ by the ECB. Though, now the official deal between the two boards stays on hold. Until there is an approval from the government, the boards won't be able to sign the MOU on IPL 2020.
The franchises and their management officials are still in a dilemma with just roughly 50 days remaining. To arrange the logistics and make the bookings is still in question. As the camps are yet to set up for the training of the players.
“We have to arrange our own logistics, flight and hotel bookings, practice facilities, pre training camp. Without clarity how all of this can be planned”, said one of the franchise officials on condition of anonymity.
“In these Covid times anyway sponsors are not ready to continue and whoever is ready to back us asks for clarity on dates and schedules. We have none. We have not heard from BCCI on anything. Whatever we hear comes from the media reports, hope GC meeting gives us clarity. We are extremely jittery at this stage”, stated another franchise official to InsideSport.
It is also to be noted that the official broadcasters of Indian Premier League- Star Sports is yet to air any campaign on the IPL 2020. With just more than a month for the event to begin, one can expect the campaigns to have started by now. This goes on to show that the broadcasters too are waiting for the approval and kick start things.
The IPL is scheduled tentatively to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 19 with the finals to be played on November 8th.
Cover Credits: IPLT20
