BCCI plan to hold IPL 2020 from September 26 onwards

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are trying their level best to organise the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2020. The world’s premier T20 tournament has already been postponed due to the lockdown imposed in India after the coronavirus pandemic.

The board is now looking at hosting IPL 2020 between September 26th and November 8th, according to Mumbai Mirror newspaper.

“Mirror has learnt that it will be between September-end and November-start, more specifically it could be from September 26 to November 8. These dates are subject to the expected postponement/cancellation of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia,” the report said.

Now that Cricket Australia have come out and said on Tuesday (June 16) morning that plans to host the T20 World Cup this year seem ‘unrealistic’, it seems BCCI is ready to move ahead with plans of hosting the IPL in India later this year.

The Mumbai-based tabloid also said that Bangalore and Chennai are being considered as two venues to host majority of the IPL with the bandwagon ready to move to Mumbai in the second-half of the tournament.

“Mumbai was to be BCCI’s first choice given the infrastructure, four international stadiums, hotels in close proximity and connectivity. But the proliferating number of Covid cases is discouraging the IPL managers,” the report read.

“Should it be Karnataka or Tamil Nadu (another state where Covid cases are many), the IPL could be staged at the TNPL or KPL venues,” the report added.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has already made his intentions clear on hosting the IPL this year in a letter sent to the BCCI members last week.

BCCI keen on holding IPL 2020 at any cost

“The IPL 2020 was scheduled to start from 29th March 2020, however it has been indefinitely postponed. The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage the IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums. The fans, franchisees, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year,” Ganguly stated in a letter, in possession with Sportskeeda.

“Recently a lot of players, both from India and other countries, participating in IPL have also shown their keenness on being a part of this year IPL. We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this,” the former India captain added.

The IPL teams have not been formally informed about the decision but informally discussions are already taking place between BCCI and the franchises.