Premature to speculate about future of IPL 2020, states Arun Dhumal
BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal has asserted that it would be premature to take any call or speculate about the future of IPL 13, with the country set to extend the lockdown till the end of the month. Dhumal further admitted that organizing the tournament will need a lot of things to fall in place.
With less than two days left for the ‘rescheduled’ start date of IPL 2020 to go past us, there has been no official word from either the organizers of the tournament or the BCCI on the future of the tournament. While it was initially announced that the tournament was being pushed to April 15, since then, the BCCI and IPL organizers have kept mum about the tournament and have deferred meetings, leaving the fans, players and the tournament itself in limbo.
With India in the midst of a complete lockdown, the cancellation of IPL 13 looks a certainty, but BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal believes that it’s too early for anyone to speculate about the future of the tournament and added that the board and the organizers will continue to play the waiting game before coming to a conclusion.
"Right now, the picture is very hazy. We don't even know when the lockdown will end and if we don't know, how can we even have a meaningful discussion,” Dhumal told PTI.
“Once we get clarity from the government, we can then sit and take fresh stock of the situation. Any speculation about its future will be premature. Everyone wants IPL to happen but let's have some clarity first."
With the pandemic posing trouble to countries all over the world, Dhumal admitted that several things will have to fall into place for it to go ahead and added that boards and countries all over the world will have to cooperate to achieve the same. The BCCI Treasurer further added that the well being of the players will also have to be taken into account and said that a decision can only be made once the madness simmers down.
"Firstly, if Australia is under lockdown for six months, how can we conclude that they will allow their players to travel from next month right away? What if the travel restrictions for its citizens are still in place. How will they come to India then? And don't forget that other boards also need to agree.
"Secondly, even if the lockdown ends in India, what if some of the major cities still have those COVID 'hotspots'? Can we risk the lives of our sportspersons? Thirdly, the players are likely to go without training for months.
"Even if we are in a position to conduct a tournament, for international players, we need to give them a bare minimum time to do full-fledged training before we can start a tournament. All these factors can only be clear when we are in a position to discuss.”
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