After the orders of the Indian government came for the lockdown of the whole country for 21 days, the chances of the 13th edition of IPL to take place have more decreased. Even the authorities related to this development are hinting that it is difficult to host IPL 2020.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) has earlier postponed the IPL to 15th April. They have also proposed five expected dates to start the cash-rich league.
Now, with the rising cases fo Coronavirus, IPL is likely to get delayed further or will either be cancelled.
IPL 2020 was bound to kick-off on March 29:
The official said if restrictions are lifted on April 14, whose chances of which are fairly slim, the grounds will take 12 to 14 to get ready for the matches to take place.
Further, he informed that as BCCI had given work from home to the employees, plenty of IPL work was stopped mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“We are not even discussing IPL right now. It will be premature to say anything but hosting the IPL this year looks a bit difficult,” a top franchise official told Hindustan Times.
“All IPL related work was stopped in mid-March. Only the construction of VIP boxes was underway when this coronavirus pandemic forced us to go on a work-from-home. We were already told not to hold IPL-related work till April 15,” the official said.
IPL 2020 is highly unlikely to take place now:
“The IMGR (Delhi Capitals) guys came here last week and they were told about the developments. Even they looked less hopeful of the IPL taking place this year. Generally, it takes about two weeks for the pitch and construction work to complete before every IPL that means till the end of April it is highly unlikely,” the official added.
Thus, there are mere chances to schedule IPL this year. The International Cricket Council (ICC) will also decide the fate of T20 World Cup 2020 which is scheduled later this year in October.