Former leading bastman Kevin Pieterson bats for IPL to be held in England

The most important office bearers of the BCCI — President Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah and treasurer Arun Dhumal — have shrugged off responsibility for the IPL fiasco by claiming that nobody could have known the intensity of the second wave of the Covid pandemic that hit the country from the first week of April. I’m afraid, this does not wash.

While cricket administrators are not experts in virology and epidemics, the Corona virus tsunami was being widely discussed by experts from January onwards. Only it was obfuscated by a gloating government, and a cricket administration that preferred to toe the populist line rather assess the looming threat independently.

The previous IPL season played in the UAE had gone off without hitch. Since there were to be no spectators allowed at the ground even in India, the ‘atmosphere’ of IPL such as it was, was hardly going to be affected.

This was foolish disregard for the Corona threat, and the BCCI compounded the problem by shocking complacency, as was revealed from breaches in the ‘bubble’ that came to light last week, forcing the tournament to be suspended indefinitely.

Infringements in the healthy safety protocol, if one goes by reports, includes teams based in being exposed to staff of a private club where the players had gone for practice, food being brought in from the outside, as well as two impostors — ostensibly working for bookies — who were arrested with fake accreditations for matches!

What happens to the truncated IPL 20121 season from here is subject to several imponderables. The BCCI is looking at a 15-20day window later in the year to complete the tournament, which may not be easy to find in a packed international calendar.

On the face of it, it is possible to squeeze in the completion of the IPL after the England tour finishes and the T20WC begins. But this means foregoing a confirmed tour by South Africa to India for white ball series in late September-early October.

Given the BCCI’s clout, the Proteas can be cajoled to scrap this assignment with promise of a bigger tour later. However, whether overseas players from other countries will be available for completion of the IPL is moot. Their countries may want them for preparatory camps for the T20 WC, rather than be fatigued. To resume the IPL post T20 WC may be even more unkind on the players, who may in any case have other international assignments.

However, the biggest challenge for the BCCI now is to show it has learnt from the present disaster and is capable of handling mega tournaments in times of Covid.

There is talk of a third wave hitting India in endAugust or September. Everybody prays it doesn’t, but nothing can be left to chance or propaganda. Preparations for the tournaments to be played at home or putting in place Plan Bs in case the situation is serious have to be done with commitment, diligence and based on domain expertise, not in an airy-fairy manner as was done this IPL season.

Money lost because of the IPL being suspended will be easy for the BCCI to recover, not so the massive loss of credibility.