Early September IPL in Sri Lanka makes sense if T20 World Cup happens in October, feels Sunil Gavaskar

There have been a lot of speculation going around in regards to the T20 World Cup, with the ICC buying time for the official announcement on the contingency planning. While IPL Governing Council Chairman Brijesh Patel revealed that the BCCI is looking for the October-November slot for the hostage of the mega event, Australia PM Scott Morrison’s announcement of allowing 10000 spectators to the venue added to the hope that the T20 World Cup might happen this year. 

Sunil Gavaskar, who was the former head of the IPL GC in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal, stated that early September window gives the BCCI certain leverage but with monsoon around, it would be a tough deal. He rather stated that India can aim to take the IPL to Sri Lanka lest they want to host in September.

"After the announcement by the Australian government, there seems to be a possibility of conducting a World T20 in October. Maybe the teams will have to reach three weeks earlier, have seven days of practice games and also a 14-day quarantine,” Gavaskar told Aaj Tak.

“If ICC believes that World T20 can happen, then having IPL looks difficult because it could only be held if World T20 is postponed but after the announcement (by Australia PM Scott Morrison), IPL in October looks difficult.

"September you can't have the IPL in India due to the monsoon. But maybe in Sri Lanka from early September with teams playing each other once instead of a double-header. Maybe you can think of that.”

Despite Australia announcing allowing 10,000 spectators in the venues whose capacity is below 40,000 from July, it remains a distinct possibility that cricket might adopt the new normal of not having any spectators at the venue for quite some time. Gavaskar, stating that fans lift the game, added that playing cricket in a post-COVID-19 world will be a different experience.

"Fans lift your game. The atmosphere is very different when they are present. Obviously players will lose out on that. Also, they will be wary of a team huddle, also may be a fist bump after a good shot," he added.