Reports | BCCI to go ahead with IPL plans this year in empty stadiums

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the high-profile 2020 edition of the IPL was postponed indefinitely by the BCCI in April. Meanwhile, the fate of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which is originally scheduled to begin on October 18 in Australia, was left hanging amid the coronavirus-outbreak. Consequently, the talk around the staging of the IPL in the window of the T20 World Cup, given the latter is postponed, had come up. However, the International Cricket Council, on Wednesday, announced that no call on the fate of the T20 World Cup would be taken until July. And according to the TOI, the BCCI is going ahead with the IPL anyway. 

According to TOI, in a letter the state associations following the ICC board meeting on Wednesday, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly stated that the board will shortly decide on the future course of action. Ganguly clarified that the board is willing to host the marquee T20 league, that is critical to its revenue, in empty stadiums.

"The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage the IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums. The fans, franchisees, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year. Recently a lot of players, both from India and other countries, participating in IPL have also shown their keenness on being a part of this year IPL. We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this," Ganguly's letter read, according to TOI.

"Essentially this SOP is being made with a view of providing our Members with a standard set of guidelines which will help the Associations to resume cricket in their respective areas. The BCCI has engaged medical specialists for the drafting of this SOP," the letter further read.