MUMBAI: The Sri Lanka Cricket Board has offered to host the thirteenth edition of Indian Premier League considering the uncertainty revolving around organising the cash-rich tournament amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the BCCI is not keen about it. It is of the opinion that there is no point in talking about such a proposal at this moment in a "closed world" fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Sri Lanka cricket board, through a letter, had offered BCCI to host this year’s IPL tournament. “Apparently it will cost the BCCI and its stakeholders more than $500 million to cancel the IPL," Shammi Silva, SLC president, told Sinhala daily Lankadeepa, reports ESPNcricinfo. "So perhaps, they can minimise those losses by hosting the tournament in another country.”
The BCCI has extended the suspension of the domestic league until further notice amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sri Lanka has also been under stringent lockdown for the last four weeks, and the virus has not impacted the island country as much as it had in the western countries. There have been a total of 238 confirmed cases registered with only seven deaths due to the virus.
The tournament was supposed to begin from 29 March to 24 April; however, the BCCI on 13 March postponed the tournament till 15 April amid the virus outbreak.
SLC president says: “If they play it in Sri Lanka, it's easy for Indian audiences to watch the games on TV. There's precedent for this because they've played the IPL in South Africa before. We're waiting for the Indian board to respond to our proposal.”
In the past, the tournaments have been played in foreign countries twice during general elections in India, once in 2009 in South Africa and the other in 2014 in the UAE. The organisers shifted the venue to foreign soil because the tournament is one of the most premium and expensive events in the country.
"If the Indian board does agree to play the tournament here, we're ready to provide facilities in line with the requirements and recommendations of medical professionals. It would be a substantial source of income for Sri Lankan cricket as well," adds Silva.
Estimates are that close to $1.5 billion is riding behind the IPL in terms of advertising, sponsorships and ticket sales. Global advisor Duff & Phelps, in March, estimated that the IPL ecosystem value will reduce by $700 to $1,000 million range (around 10-15 per cent) if IPL is cancelled.
