According to a report carried by the Times of India, the Indian cricket board is planning to postpone the IPL 2020 to July-September window. Amid the Coronavirus outbreak, the board does not want to take any risk and hence is willing to change the schedule absolutely.

IPL might travel abroad again

As precautionary measures, the BCCI already postponed the start of the 13th edition of the IPL to April 15. Then the president, Sourav Ganguly suggested that the league might be a truncated one within a delayed and shortened window. But the Times of India reported that the BCCI has no such plan handy to complete the league in a shorter span of time. Rather the board is willing to host a full 60-match league during July-September and may take the league abroad to complete it.

Speaking about the same, a source quoted by the Times of India mentioned about the 2009 IPL which was held in South Africa. It was in fact played within only 37 days. “The 2009 IPL – in South Africa – was played inside 37 days. That’s five weeks and two days. If that kind of a window is made available, the IPL can be held partly in India and partly overseas, or the entire tournament can be shifted, depending on how the Covid-19 situation is globally.”

Clash with Asia Cup

Looking at the Future Tours Programme (FTP) the Asia Cup T20 and Pakistan’s tour of England and Ireland are the two tournaments that are scheduled between the months of July and September. Apart from England and Pakistan, no other cricket team has any packed international cricket window in those three months.

So, the board will try to tweak the tournaments coming between July and September to host a full IPL 2020. But again, in case of the IPL “with every week lost from a minimum of 37 days, nine to 11 matches have to be shaved off,” as mentioned by an industry expert to the TOI. But a lot depends on how the Covid-19 situation progresses worldwide.

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