Former Australian captain and wicket-keeper batsman Mark Taylor feels the likely postponement of the T20 World Cup could open doors for the BCCI to host IPL. It is well known that the T20 World Cup could be deferred and the IPL might take the October-November window. As the 15 teams will be required to travel to Australia for the T20I showpiece, it looks unlikely that the World Cup will go ahead in the given scenario.
On the other hand, the IPL was expected to begin from March 29 but it was postponed indefinitely. It is also reported that the BCCI is targeting other windows to host the IPL and the Indian board will lose a huge amount of INR 4000 crores if the IPL is not held this year.
Mark Taylor feels Cricket Australia should make a deal with the BCCI.
Meanwhile, the franchises are not in favour of hosting the IPL sans foreign players. Thus, it would be interesting to see how the BCCI will get the overseas players in India amid the health chaos. There is no doubt that the Indian board will need the support of the foreign boards to let their players travel for the tournament.
It is where Mark Taylor believes Cricket Australia should make a deal with the BCCI that if they allow their players to travel for the IPL, then India should be ready to tour Down Under later in the year. It is also known that Cricket Australia will lose a huge sum of 300 million Australian dollars if the series against India is canceled due to the pandemic.
“I think that’s the most likely scenario (postponement of T20 World Cup) because 15 teams planning to come to Australia between October and November, 45 matches over a proposed seven venues, national travel is going to extremely difficult in the world we are living in”, Taylor told Channel Nine Sports.
“14 days of isolation before that makes it even harder. More than likely that event is not going ahead. So if the ICC decides to postpone the event that will open the door for the BCCI to say that we will have our IPL is India which actually puts the onus back on individuals then rather than nations moving whole teams over to a certain country”.
“So that is certainly a possibility or probability. Cricket Australia will obviously want the T20 World Cup but at the same time will be working hard with India that if their players go there for IPL, they will want India to come to Australia for our summer of cricket next year”, Taylor said.
It is reported that the T20 World Cup is most likely to be postponed and the IPL can be played in October-November. The tournament is likely to go ahead behind closed doors.
It Is going to be a tricky situation to host a big tournament, either it is the IPL or the World T20. Consequently, the BCCI and Cricket Australia will have to take the necessary precautions.