MUMBAI: It was on July 24 that ESPNcricinfo broke the news that the BCCI had homed in on September 19 to November 8 or 10 as the dates for the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Subsequently, IPL governing council chairman Brijesh Patel went public and on record that the cash awash league would kick off on Saturday, September 19, with the final to be played on Sunday, November 8.
SportzPower had made two points at the time (which are still relevant it needs noting). First was that Patel’s “jumping the gun” on the dates announcement was yet another manifestation of the BCCI’s “no process, no procedure” functioning style. More so considering the fact that one of the key matters that the IPL governing council would perforce need to deliberate on BEFORE making any official public announcement was the schedule of the tournament, which is the marquee event in host broadcaster Star India’s calendar.
Second was that the dates announced meant that the BCCI had chosen NOT to entertain Star India’s request for tweaking the IPL schedule so that the tournament finale was played on Sunday, November 15, so as to maximise viewership / sponsorship opportunities by leveraging the Diwali (Saturday, November 14) weekend.
Discussions were also expected on the timing of the night matches – whether they should be held as at usual 8 pm IST (6.30pm Dubai time) or be advanced by half an hour.
Now what is worth noting is that the November 10 date that ESPNcricinfo had thrown up initially was also the date that BCCI president (legally former but ignore that) Sourav Ganguly had told people close to him in the cricket ecosystem was the date the BCCI favoured for the final. SportzPower has asked about this but till date has been offered no clear explanation on why the BCCI would consider a Tuesday to host the IPL final.
Be that as it may, Times of India reported Thursday that the IPL governing council was contemplating the idea of postponing the final by a “couple of days”, ergo November 10 (bear in mind that there is still no official declaration by the BCCI on the dates for the 2020 edition of the event).
The reason, according to TOI, is that Star has continuously demanded the Diwali weekend for the play-offs, something that the BCCI has denied due to their commitments to Cricket Australia. TOI goes on to say that the IPL GC was willing to give the broadcaster “a slight bit of leeway”, and is planning to host the final on a weekday, instead of a traditional weekend, for the first time to help “Star Sports make the optimum use of the festival market”.
While SportzPower does not buy the reasoning that is being touted for November 10 as a potential date for the IPL final (now if we were talking Tuesday, November 17, that is a whole different story), it is still worth mentioning keeping in mind that Ganguly had intitially given that as date for the tournament finale.
Considering the lackadaisical ways of the world’s richest cricket board, this website will not be holding its breath on the matter, but hopefully clarity and lucid reasoning will be provided after the IPL governing council meets on Sunday, August 2.
Related Report
Sep 19-Nov 8 window locked: IPL chairman; Star request ignored?
