No cricket in India in near future, says BCCI President Ganguly

 Amid suggestions and reports of squeezing in the IPL ahead of the T20 World Cup in October this year despite there being question marks on the world event taking place in Australia itself, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly made it clear that cricket in India has taken a backseat and there are no chances of the sport taking place in the country in the near future because of Covid-19 pandemic.

Ganguly said that there will be no cricket in the country for the foreseeable future amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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The global outbreak of coronavirus has ceased all major sporting activities around the world including the indefinite postponement of IPL for the first time since its inception. Though there has been no official word from BCCI but there have been reports about the board trying to find a window before the T20 World Cup for IPL.

The cricket calendar has been on a standstill since coronavirus started spreading on a global scale and the World Health Organisation designated it as a pandemic on March 11.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly speaks during a press conference.

However, in recent days, the graph of infections have flattened in a few countries and Germany could become the first to restart its football league. However Ganguly said that India is different from Germany.

“The social reality of Germany and India are different, there will be no cricket in India in the near future,” Ganguly told TOI on Tuesday. “There are too many ifs and buts involved. More importantly, I don’t believe in sport when there is a risk to human life.”

India’s home ODI series against South Africa was among the first cricket series to be called off. In the days since, New Zealand’s tour of Australia, England’s tour of Sri Lanka and the final leg of Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan were all postponed as well. The 2020 IPL’s initial start date was first pushed back from March 29 to April 15 before it was postponed indefinitely as the nation-wide lockdown got extended until May 3.

There are question marks lingering even over the men’s T20 World Cup slated to take place in Australia in October as the Australian government have put all international travels at hold till Sept.31.

ICC CEO on Tuesday said that they are in constant touch with experts and Australian government on the future of T20 World Cup.

“In relation to ICC events, including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, we will continue to take advice from experts and authorities, including the Australian government. We will utilize all of the data and information available to us to ensure we can take responsible decisions around all competitions at an appropriate time that are in the best interests of our sport,” said ICC Chief Executive Sawhney.

On Monday, batting great Sunil Gavaskar said India could host this year’s Twenty20 World Cup instead of Australia if the coronavirus crisis eases in the subcontinent.

With India set to host the 2021 edition, Gavaskar suggested swapping with Australia and holding this year’s tournament instead.

As we all know, Australia has barred foreigners from entering the country... The tournament starts mid-October so it is looking difficult at the moment,” Gavaskar told India Today.

“Next year’s T20 World Cup is in India. If India and Australia come to an agreement and in case the (COVID-19) curve in India flattens out, they can swap. It can be held in India this October-November and in Australia October-November next year.”

Gavaskar added that the Indian Premier League T20 tournament, indefinitely postponed from its March 29 start, could be held just before the World Cup.

“If it (the swap) is going to happen that way then what can be done is that IPL is held just prior to T20 World Cup so there is enough practice for the players,” said the 70-year-old Indian.

The ICC is due to discuss the global cricket calendar with chief executives of the 15 top national boards this week. The T20 World Cup, previously a biennial tournament, is being played in back-to-back years after the former Champions Trophy was upgraded.

Agencies