After a lot of speculations, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally decided to schedule IPL 2020 in September-November in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) behind closed doors. The public announcement on hosting of the league was made after ICC postponed the T20 World Cup 2020, which was scheduled in October-November. Thus, freeing the window for arranging the IPL.
The 13th edition of the league was originally scheduled to start from 29th March, but the outbreak of the coronavirus had halted the event.
There were reports that the league is rescheduled and will begin from 26th September. But the IPL chairman Brijesh Patel stated that the event would kick-off from September 19, a week before what initial reports suggested. But why the IPL was preponed?
Reason Behind Rescheduling IPL 2020:
After organising the league, Team India will tour Australia where they will have to follow 14 days quarantine ahead of the series. So, considering the sufficient gap between the two events, BCCI preponed the league a week before. The grand finale of the most-awaited league will be played on 8 November(during Diwali Week)
“The Indian team will have a mandatory quarantine of 14 days as per the Australian government rules. A delay would have sent the plans haywire,” a BCCI official told PTI.
Further, since the window also offers for a full seven-week league, the broadcasters are happy as there would be fewer double-headers.
“The best part is that 51 days is not at all a curtailed period and broadcasters will be happy with full seven-week window,” the official added.
Patel earlier confirmed that the schedule of IPL 2020 has been finalized and other important issues will be discussed in the GC meeting next week.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have agreed to give No Objection Certificate(NOC) to players who are bound with IPL contracts.