Ashish Nehra Feels IPL Can Take Place In October If Things Return To Normalcy

Published - 08 Apr 2020, 04:34 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:05 AM

Ashish Nehra. Image Credits: Twitter

The onslaught of the global contagion coronavirus (COVID-19) has wreaked havoc on the entire world. The virus that originated from the Wuhan city of China late last year has infected more than 15 lakh people besides 80,000 lives around the world.

From schools, colleges, offices to airlines and borders, everything has been locked up with social distancing the only possible solution to contain the deadly virus. The world of sports has been one of the worst affected areas due to COVID-19. From Premier League to NBA to Olympics, every major sporting event has been put on the backburner.

IPL was initially slated to start from March 29 (Photo- Twitter)

As far as cricket is concerned, its marquee franchise event, Indian Premier League has also landed in jeopardy. The 13th edition of the cash-rich league was supposed to kickstart from March 29 with defending champions Mumbai Indians locking horns with Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

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But with the situation steadily escalating in India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI] was forced to postpone it till April 15th. But even that looks like a distant dream now as the country is currently under a 21-day lockdown.

IPL can take place in October if the situation gets normal, feels Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra, IPL 2019, Royal Challengers Bangalore — Ashish Nehra (Photo by: Vipin Pawar / IPL/ SPORTZPICS)

The BCCI is looking at an August-September window to stage the 13th edition but former Indian bowler Ashish Nehra believes that there is a possibility of the 13th edition of the cash-rich league taking place in the last quarter of 2020, provided the world returns to normalcy by then.

“Even if the IPL doesn’t happen in August, (because) there are a lot of places in India that witness rains during that month and there are high chances that lots of matches will get canceled,” Ashish Nehra told Star Sports on its Hindi show ‘Cricket Connected’.

Nehra added: “If things go back to normal around the world by October, we’ll have percent cent clearance,”

Also Read: Ashish Nehra Worried For Fast Bowlers During Lockdown

That said, even if the situation normalizes by then, one of the biggest challenges for the BCCI will be to get foreign players in the league considering at that time every country will be busy with their bilateral commitments. Besides that, the ICC T20 World Cup is slated to be held in the month of October. Hence, it remains to be seen how the BCCI deals with the situations once the world returns to normalcy.

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BCCI Coronavirus IPL 2020