Owners upbeat over IPL chances

New Delhi, June 16: Shortened or full-scale? At home or abroad? The questions are many for IPL franchisees desperate for a decisive statement from the BCCI on the fate of the league which, they believe, will get unprecedented TV viewership if it happens.

With Cricket Australia repeatedly stressing on the “unrealistic” challenge of hosting the 16team T20 World Cup in October-November, the likelihood of having the IPL has increased significantly in a year thrown haywire by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Considering the current situation, there are too many complications in hosting the T20 World Cup with 16 teams. Organising the IPL won’t be easy too. It has to be at a place which has adequate infrastructure, both on and off the field,” Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia said.

The ICC recently pushed its final decision on the T20 World Cup to next month but the BCCI has already zeroed in on the September-October window for the tournament.

Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore, during a media event last week, spoke of his opposition to any “tinkering' with the format of the league but not all IPL stakeholders agree.

Considering the situation around the pandemic, they are fine with a curtailed edition even though Mysore said he spoke for all the eight teams. The BCCI, on its part, has only asserted its intent to conduct the event so far but specifics are still not known.

“I am sure BCCI is putting all its efforts towards a full IPL but we have no issues even with a curtailed one. We have to be aware of the situation we are in and optimise ourselves,” Wadia said.

“IPL has also been a very forward looking and flexible tournament and that has to be maintained during the Covid-19 situation. Going back to 2009, within one month we switched from India to South Africa,” he added.

With Covid-19 cases rising in India, staging the IPL overseas is very much an option. The UAE, which partially hosted the tournament in 2014, and Sri Lanka, have already shown interest in hosting the event.

New Zealand, among the least affected countries from Coronavirus, is also an option though the huge time difference goes against it.