Manoj Badale, majority owner at Rajasthan Royals, believes a shortened Indian Premier League will be played this year, despite the growing concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with the BBC Worldservice, Badale said that there is still no clarity between the franchise owners and the Board of Control for Cricket in India regarding the possibility of staging the IPL this year.
“We have a number of calls as owners with the BCCI to talk about what those plans might be, but it is clearly going to be postponed and it is unclear at this stage whether or not it takes place later this year,” he said.
The IPL was scheduled to start on March 29 but was pushed ahead to April 15 because of the pandemic. As things stand, though, the T20 tournament has been postponed indefinitely. All sporting events across the world have come to a standstill as the number of people suffering from Covid-19 continues to increase each day.
Badale conceded that with the amount of uncertainty, it will be difficult for the BCCI to find a window for the IPL if and when sporting activities can resume this year.
“The cricket calendar is so packed. There are very few gaps especially for a seven-week tournament, so I suspect even if a gap can be found, it would have to be a shorter tournament,” he said.
“And the uniqueness of the IPL is it gets the very, very best around the world so it is not just a collaboration between the BCCI, the owners and the Indian government, you need the collaboration of the other cricket boards as well. Because what makes the IPL special is the presence of not just the Kohlis and the Dhonis, but also the Stokeses and the Warners and the Butlers.”
Badale said that the possibility of having an IPL with no foreign players cannot be ruled out either. He also highlighted the importance of the tournament for the game of cricket, the players and the many people who help stage the event.
“If it was a choice of no IPL or a domestic player-only IPL, I would choose the latter,” he said. “I think we will have some form of the tournament this year. It will probably be a shortened tournament. As long as people are prepared to be creative and as long as boards are prepared to work together collaboratively, it [IPL] is hugely important to the game of cricket. It is not just of importance to the Indians that the IPL takes place.
“It is important for the whole game. It is [important] economically for some of the best players in the world. It is economically meaningful for the event organisers and for the broadcasters that participate. So the trickle down effect of a tournament as big as the IPL not taking place in terms of its impact on more than just the players but (also) all the people whose livelihoods depend on it is pretty significant. So we have a responsibility to try and a find a way of playing it if we possibly can,” said Badale.