MUMBAI: After weeks of speculation, some of which has been outright bizarre, some clarity has been provided by way of a status update on Indian cricket from BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri.
Johri, who was speaking at a webinar organised by sports marketing firm TCM Wednesday, pointed out that with the next four months or so being the off season for cricket due to the monsoons, it would allow for planning ahead with a greater degree of certainty for a post-lockdown return to the cricket playing arena.
Not surprisingly, it was the fate of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League that was front and centre. To this Johri noted that while discussions on possible outcomes were ongoing with the franchises as well as broadcast partner Star India, it was government guidance that would be at the core of any possible plan that might be envisaged.
And what if due to travel restriction international players were not able to be a part of this year’s IPL, if and when it was held? Was an Indians only IPL a last resort option? Johri made clear that this was NOT one of the possible scenarios being discussed. Asserting that having the world’s best players competing was what made the IPL what it was and that would remain true this time round as well.
TCM MD Lokesh Sharma, who was also on the webinar panel, chipped in here, asserting that the template could be what Cricket West Indies was contemplating for their re-scheduled Three-Test tour to England, which is likely to see travel happen in early to mid-June, giving the team about four weeks for any period of quarantine and practice. Sharma revealed that what was being contemplated was for the team to fly out on a chartered plan, and move and stay in extremely controlled conditions while in the UK.
Johri was also asked for a comment on the possibility of the IPL slotting into the window that was currently in place for the 2020 Men’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Australia from 18 October to 15 November. This would of course entail the ICC event being pushed back to 2021 or 2022.
The BCCI CEO offered a reality check here, stating all such talk was speculative, while also pointing out that any such decision needed agreement from the other ICC member boards as well.
It bears noting that headway could be reached on May 28 after the ICC’s board meeting. All the stakeholders of the affiliated member boards are set to join the meeting via video conferencing to discuss the roadmap and plan a strategy for the future.
This would necessarily include a collective review of the disrupted FTP programme through to 2023, with a view to rescheduling as much of the cricket that has been postponed due to COVID-19 as possible.
“It’s going to be a collaborative effort,” Johri said, regarding the decisions that might come out from the May 28 meeting. “Collaborative effort”? Such statements would certainly deflate some of the media chatter in these parts that is constantly beating the drum of how the BCCI can (which may be true) and will (that’s where we get iffy) ride roughshod over any positions that run contrary to its own within the ICC system.
In conclusion, Johri observed that there were a “lot of moving parts at play”, which necessarily precluded making any definitive statements on how that coming months would pan out.
Postscript: IANS, quoting unnamed official souces, reports that the BCCI is looking at the possibility of hosting the 13th edition of the IPL from September 25 to November 1, for which to happen of course, the T20 World Cup would have to be postponed.
