IPL 2020 will be full-fledged, schedule announcement in 10 days: IPL Chairman

The much-awaited 13^th edition of the Indian Premier League is all set to get underway as recently ICC decided to postpone the ICC T20 World Cup to be held in October-November making the window open for a possible IPL. In his latest interview, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel opined that the IPL will be a full-fledged tournament and will be mostly held in the UAE.

A full-fledged IPL 2020 will happen in the UAE, says IPL Chairman  

The recent ICC decision to postpone the ICC T20 World Cup has cleared the last major hurdle for the BCCI to host the IPL this year. BCCI has now started planning their scheduling and required logistics to stage the IPL in the UAE in the September-November window. With the number of stadiums being less in the UAE, and considering the health and safety measures to be maintained there were speculations that the 13^th edition of the IPL will be a shortened version. But the IPL Chairman in his latest interview cleared the confusion and stated that the much-awaited tournament will be a full-fledged one comprising of 60 matches and will be possibly held in the UAE.

He added that all the major decisions regarding the tournament will be announced in the next 10 days, after the IPL Governing Council meeting.

  “The IPL GC will meet within a week or 10 days and all decisions (including the final schedule) will be taken there. As of now, the plan is to have a full-fledged IPL comprising 60 games and most likely in the UAE,” IPL chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI.

“Just the operational side of it. Whether you do it here or outside, it doesn’t matter (with no crowds),” Patel said when questioned about the challenges to conduct the tournament.

Indian players to train for 3-4 weeks in the UAE ahead of IPL 2020

Indian players are expected to train in the UAE for 3-4 weeks before the start of the tournament whereas the overseas players are expected to fly in directly to UAE from their respective countries.

“Our players will need at least three to four weeks of training, if not more. We will finalize all our plans once the BCCI announces the dates. It looks like the IPL will be in the UAE and we are ready for that,” a team owner told PTI.

While the matches will be played in front of the empty stadiums, the BCCI is not expected to face a huge loss as the TV and digital viewership is expected to reach all-time highest count, as the cricket fans all across the globe have been deprived of quality cricket for so long.

Some of the other decisions that are expected to be made in the IPL GC meeting are regarding whether the BCCI will pay compensations to each franchise for the loss of ticket, food, and beverages revenue.

The final decision regarding the commentary team is also expected to be made. Whether the BCCI would carry each commentator to the UAE or will follow South Africa’s 3TC’s example is to be found out. Aakash Chopra, Deep Dasgupta, and Irfan Pathan did the commentary for 3TC from the comfort zone of their homes.

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