IPL could take place in September ahead of World T20, suggests Michael Vaughan

On March 13, the BCCI, taking into account the Covid-19 situation in India, announced that it would be postponing the tournament till April 15 and would take a call on the tournament’s future depending on the state of events in the country. However, things have since gotten worse in India, with the country registering over 2000 Covid-19 cases, which, in turn, has led to speculation that the tournament could be completely scrapped for the season.

While there has been chatter from certain BCCI officials that they could be looking at a November window should the WT20 get cancelled, former England skipper Michael Vaughan is of the opinion that the board should reschedule the tournament and push it to September. The 45-year-old suggested that pushing the IPL to September would not only mean that the tournament takes place, but would also mean that it could serve as a warm-up heading into the WT20, that is slated to kick off on October 18.

“Here’s a thought .. The IPL is played for the 5 weeks leading up to the T20 World Cup in Oz .. all players use it as the great warm up for the WC .. then the WC happens .. So important for the game that the IPL takes place but also the WC,” Vaughan tweeted on Thursday.

Last week, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly was set to hold a meeting with all eight franchise owners of IPL to discuss the future of the tournament, but the meeting was called off due to the 21-day lockdown that was imposed in the country. The board is, however, expected to take a final decision on the future of IPL 13 in the days to come.