‘We will have some sort of tournament: Rajasthan Royals owner on IPL’s fate amid coronavirus threat

Rajasthan Royals owner Manoj Badale believes the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League will take place even if it means it is a truncated one. In normal circumstances, the IPL would have been in full flow right now, however, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the start date was pushed back to April 15 from March 29.

In all likelihood, the IPL is set to be postponed or even cancelled. However, Badale feels that a lot of livelihoods depend on the tournament and the franchises and BCCI will do everything so that these people aren’t affected by it.

“I think we will have some form of tournament this year,” Badale told BBC Worldservice. “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 economically for some of the best players in the world. It is economically meaningful for the event organisers and for the broadcasters that participate,” he added.

“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 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.”

Earlier, media reports suggested that the tournament will be cancelled this year and as a result, there will be no mega auction next year. In 2021, teams were supposed to retain a few players with majority players going back under the hammer. But it seems that has been also been pushed back for at least another year.

“IPL will not happen this year. It will now happen next year. We all know how the situation is at the moment in the country and no one will take any risk,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

“One can’t have social distancing in the stadium. It’s better to play IPL next year. Also, no mega auction will take place. We will inform the franchises once we get final confirmation from the Indian government, the same season can continue next season,” he added.