BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday stated that the board is ready host the IPL behind closed doors and is working on “all possible options” to stage the tournament this year.
Sourav Ganguly in his letter to all affiliated members of the bod, stated that “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.
The IPL was scheduled to commence from March 29 but was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is being speculated that the tournament might be played in the October-November window if the ICC decides to postpone the T20 World Cup.
“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 BCCI is in the process of developing a COVID-19 Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for all State Cricket Associations. Essentially this SOP is being made with a view of providing our Members with a standard set of guidelines which will help the associations to resume cricket in their respective areas,” Ganguly wrote in his letter to all affiliated members.
Talking about domestic cricket, Ganguly has said: “Moving ahead, the BCCI is in the process of planning the domestic competitions for the next cricketing season. We are working on various formats and options in our endeavour to ensure that various domestic tournaments are held, they stay competitive and participation is feasible. The BCCI will come up with more details on this front over the next couple of weeks”.
