Hyderabad: The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) being played entirely in the UAE is now a distinct possibility as reports across various media organisations claim that the BCCI has earmarked a tentative window between September 26 and November 7 for it.
Originally IPL 2020 was scheduled to commence from March 29 but due to the prevailing the lockdown, BCCI had to postpone their tournament for an indefinite period. However, they didn’t lose their hope of hosting the tournament as Sourav Ganguly admitted that it will incur them a loss of Rs 4000 crore.
After staying in a lot of dilemma with the future of ICC T20 World Cup, BCCI has finally made up their mind to host IPL 2020. Much to the delight of the fans, BCCI has almost finalised the dates along with the venue. The cash-rich IPL 2020 is all set to start between September 26 and November 6th in the UAE.
“It’s the only likely option for the BCCI now. It is 80 per cent certain that this will be the schedule. BCCI is getting all the approvals in place,” sources close to the development informed an Indian sports website.
Meanwhile, the detailed schedule for IPL 2020 is likely to come out in the first week of August. The Indian cricketers who will feature in the IPL will move to UAE for a five-week training camp from the third week of August to the first week of September.
Once the training camp is over, the IPL franchises will be free to organise training camps of their own ahead of the tournament opener. This will be the second time after 2014, UAE will be hosting the IPL 2020. The matches will take place in three stadiums in Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi under bio-secure environments due to COVID-19.
