Emirates Cricket Board ready to host IPL, reveals Mubashir Usmani
Emirates Cricket Board general secretary Mubashir Usmani has confirmed that they have expressed their interest in hosting the IPL if India decides to take it outside of the country this year. IPL 13 was scheduled to start in late March but was postponed indefinitely due to Covid-19 crisis.
The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League was first postponed twice, and now indefinitely, in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent nation-wide lockdown. With the future of the ICC T20 World Cup also uncertain, the BCCI is reportedly looking at the post-monsoon calendar to host the tournament.
The situation in India, however, doesn’t inspire much confidence with a record number of cases being added to the tally on a regular basis, although the recovery rate is impressive. In such a scenario, the permission to host a full season of the IPL, with logistical factors adding to the misery, might become a nightmare. To help BCCI prevail over the situation, the Emirates Cricket Board, which had partly hosted the 2014 edition of the IPL, have offered their services to take the cash-rich league beyond India for the third time in their history.
"In the past, Emirates Cricket Board has successfully hosted IPL matches in UAE. We have a proven record of being hosts as a neutral venue for various bilateral and multinational cricket activities in the past," ECB general secretary Mubashir Usmani told Gulf News.
"Our state-of-the-art venues and facilities make the Emirates a desired place for hosting all types of cricket. We have come forward and offered our venues to both England and India. We have also hosted matches involving the England team on multiple occasions previously. If our offer is taken up by either of the Boards, then we will be pleased to facilitate the hosting of their matches," he said.
Any decision regarding that front will be taken after the ICC’s confirmation regarding the T20 World Cup, something that is expected to arrive on June 10.