IPL 2020 News: BCCI official hints at conducting IPL 2020 outside India

BCCI official hints at conducting IPL 2020 outside India: According to the official, Sri Lanka and UAE are the two most preferred overseas venues.

There is no going into a safe house regarding the fact that the 13th season of the Indian Premier League is the biggest cricketing tournament to suffer due to the novel COVID-19 outbreak.

Slated to commence in March, the tournament ended up getting suspended until further notice. Since then, there have been multiple reports regarding the future of IPL 2020 but no confirmation.

Just over three weeks ago, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had hinted at playing IPL 2020 in empty stadiums and IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel had opined on eyeing the September-October slot for the cash-rich league.

Having said that, no official announcement has been made primarily because of ICC (International Cricket Council) not taking a call on the future of ICC T20 World Cup 2020.

BCCI official hints at conducting IPL 2020 outside India

In a fresh development, a BCCI official has opined with respect to conducting IPL 2020 outside of India. Speaking to IANS, the official highlighted how the prevailing COVID-19 status in India might make it difficult to host IPL 2020 in the country.

“We are yet to decide on the venue but in all probability, it is going outside this year. The condition in India doesn’t look suited to have so many teams come in at one or two venues and then create an atmosphere which will be safe for the players as well as the general public even though the games may be played behind closed doors,” the official was quoted as saying by IANS.

While Patel had previously ruled out the idea of playing the tournament outside of India, the official spoke of the otherwise while also shortlisting two potential venues in UAE and Sri Lanka. It is worth mentioning that both Sri Lanka and UAE had offered to host IPL 2020 after BCCI suspended the tournament until further notice.

“The race is between UAE and Sri Lanka and we will need to decide on where we host the league depending on the situation there with regards to the coronavirus pandemic. Logistics also need to be looked into, so we will decide soon,” the official said.

Sri Lanka, who recently announced the Lanka Premier League 2020, are confident of conducting the tournament in August. Other than offering to host IPL 2020, Sri Lanka are also awaiting a response from the BCCI around India touring the island nation for a white-ball series.