IPL 2020 Dates: “October-November window has been spoken about,” say reports

IPL 2020 Dates: The confusion regarding the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League continues to go on.

The growing tension around a “pandemic” in the novel COVID-19 has affected many cricket tournaments around the world including the 13th season of the Indian Premier League which was originally scheduled to begin on the day before yesterday.

The global crisis, which has affected the commerce of all sectors, hasn’t left behind the sporting sector. For an industry which primarily relies on live events, the same was inevitable.

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While there is no confirmation around IPL 2020 at the moment, countries like Australia and England sealing international border can hamper the participation of overseas players.

“At present, there is a lockdown of borders and while Australia has said it is a potential six-month lockdown, things can change with an improvement in the scenario. UK could follow the same pattern considering the spread of the pandemic,” a source in privy to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

IPL 2020 Dates

As recent as this morning, there was a report regarding the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2020 getting postponed due to the coronavirus scare. With BCCI President Sourav Ganguly hinting at no change in the situation regarding IPL 2020, it won’t be a surprise if the tournament further gets delayed.

Being asked about the possible start date of the cash-rich league, the source believed that October-November can be a realistic possibility only if the T20 World Cup gets postponed. However, nothing concrete can be said at this point in time.

“We are still to understand what the Indian government will decide with regards to closing the international borders. In such a scenario, the only window that looks safe is the October-November one. But again, that collides with the T20 World Cup.

“Again, it would be the last step for the ICC to push the T20 World Cup from 2020 to 2022 because there is no window in 2021. So, at the moment, it is all a bit too far-fetched to be honest. But yes, the October-November window has been spoken about for the IPL, but a lot of external factors need to fall into place for that to become a reality,” the source said.