Sri Lanka Cricket steps forward to offer BCCI
In wake of the horrific second wave of coronavirus in India and the surfacing of Covid positive cases among four Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, the world's richest Twenty20 cricket tournament was quickly shut off. And now failure to complete the remaining 31 matches could incur Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) losses of about 340 million USD.
The chief of the managing committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Prof. Arjuna de Silva, is keen on offering a window to host IPL around September in Sri Lanka after the conclusion of the Lanka Premier League (LPL).
"Yes, we can certainly provide a window to host the IPL in the month of September. We hear the UAE (United Arab Emirates) is their one option but Sri Lanka can not be ignored for all reasons," de Silva was quoted as saying by DeccanChronicle.
"We are planning to host the Lanka Premier League in July-August and the grounds and other infrastructure will be ready for the IPL in September", he added.
The glitzy T20 league was being organised in biosecure "bubble" conditions but there must have been a lapse that led to infection spread among players and support staff. The world's top-flight cricketers from Australia, England, New Zealand, and South Africa are heading back home in the backdrop of trepidation.
The IPL 14 started earlier in April and was facing an immense backlash from a section of the public as the country has been facing a deepening health crisis but there was divided opinion and some cricket observers deemed IPL as a distraction to the doom and gloom that prevailed across the country.
Wriddhiman Saha, Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier were the first few players who tested positive for coronavirus that set the alarm bells ringing. Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye and R Ashwin left the tournament midway because of pandemic related issues and it was becoming increasingly difficult to continue the tournament in the extraordinary circumstances.
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