With India under lockdown, the Emirates Cricket Board has reportedly offered to host the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League. BCCI was forced to suspended IPL indefinitely due to the pandemic spread of coronavirus. After Sri Lanka Cricket, UAE is the second cricketing nation to have made an offer to host the premier cricketing event. However, BCCI is yet to take a call on the situation.
BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal was quoted saying, “The UAE has offered to host the IPL if we want them to. But right now when there is no international travel. There is no question of taking a call on that. The health and security of players and all participants is our priority. At the moment, the entire world travel has come to a standstill, so there is nothing we can decide at this stage.”
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BCCI is worried about the potential loss they will have to incur if the IPL is canceled this year. The uncertainty on the current situation along with travel restrictions is a worrisome factor for them.
Earlier, Dhumal said, “The BCCI will also be in a difficult position in case cricket doesn’t resume soon. Especially the IPL. In that case, the BCCI will also have to face a lot of financial hardships. IPL is one of the major revenue-generating tournaments.”
This will not be the first time that the BCCI might plan to shift IPL outside India. South Africa and UAE are the 2 locations where IPL has been organized in its 12-year history. UAE played host to 20 matches in 2014, while South Africa hosted the entire season of IPL in 2009. Both the instances occurred due to the general elections in India during the respective editions.
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Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Mohan de Silva says any decision will be taken only after May 11. “We have discussed amongst our committee members the proposal to host the IPL in Sri Lanka. We are in lockdown till May 11. Any further decision will be taken after that,” De Silva said.
