Wouldnât make sense to reschedule IPL during CPL window, opines Pete Russell
CEO of the Caribbean Premier League, Peter Russell believes that it would make no sense for the organizers of the IPL to reschedule the tournament in an August-September window, given it will then clash with the CPL. Earlier, BCCI confirmed that IPL 13 was suspended indefinitely due to the pandemic.
The BCCI, on Thursday, confirmed that the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was suspended indefinitely due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but did not rule out the possibility of rescheduling it to a later date. With experts believing that the Covid-19 wave will ease out by the end of July, there are already talks about the IPL organizers holding the tournament in the months of August and September, with many believing that it might even serve as a warm-up to the World T20.
However, Peter Russell, CEO of the CPL, is of the opinion that organizing the IPL in the August window would not be wise, as it will clash directly with the CPL. The CPL is scheduled to run between August 19 to September 26 and according to Russell, the IPL organizers would not want a situation where none of the Windies players will be available, given most of them would be partaking in the CPL.
"We wouldn't go up against it. While I know the BCCI is all-powerful in these things, there has to be some sensible consideration around what players and other leagues are doing," Russell told ESPNcricinfo.
"I think IPL would want all the West Indian players to be playing in their tournament - it wouldn't make sense for them to play at the same time as CPL when a lot of their stars are playing with us. That would defeat the objective. I don't think they need to do that, either. They can figure out their own window, for sure."
While Europe and the United States have been heavily hit by the pandemic, the Caribbean Islands, on the other hand, have found themselves on the lucky end of the spectrum, with the outbreak not as bad as some of the other parts of the world. Russell has expressed his relief over the situation in the Caribbean and has stated that he is confident that the CPL will definitely go ahead. The CPL CEO also revealed that he has been approached by several countries who want the tournament to go ahead, given it will mark the re-starting of business in the Caribbean.
"It's good that the Caribbean has locked down early, and it hasn't been hit in the same way as the UK, for example. We're looking at different permutations in terms of what could or couldn't happen, but the lucky thing is that we've got a bit of time - we don't have to force a decision.
"I don't think there's any question that we'll be able to play it. We're only going to play if it's safe to do so, but we've been approached by a lot of the countries who want it to happen. The reason (for that) is that it's a big sporting event, and it could act as a sign or a marker that the Caribbean is open for business again.â
