New Zealand has thrown its hat in the ring to host the 13th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a BCCI official told PTI on the condition of anonymity. Sri Lanka Cricket and UAE cricket board have already extended helping hands to stage the IPL. Meanwhile, New Zealand had recently declared itself as Covid-19 free as all the people have recovered. The country recorded 1533 cases whereas 22 people lost their lives. New Zealand is ahead in time by seven and a half hours as compared to India and the NZ matches mostly start in wee hours according to IST.
On the other hand, BCCI had also stated that it is open to hosting the IPL overseas. India has recorded an upward spike in the number of cases in the last couple of months and the situation has gone from bad to worse. On July 6, India overtook Russia to become the third worst-hit country by the coronavirus.
The IPL is likely to take place overseas
Consequently, it is unlikely that the Indian board will be able to host the event in India. In fact, the BCCI will need the government permission to stage the glamorous event and with the present health crisis, the Union government is not likely to give a green signal to the board.
It was earlier reported that the first preference would be to host IPL in India but it doesn’t look promising. It is expected that the tournament will be played overseas.
On the other hand, it is also reported that the ICC will take the official decision on the postponement of the T20 World Cup later in the week on Friday. Hence, the BCCI will have a clear picture and they can start planning for the lucrative T20 league in September-October window
The Indian board will suffer a huge loss of INR 4000 crores if the IPL doesn’t happen in 2020. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is optimistic that the tournament will go on in the ongoing year. The tournament will be played behind closed doors.