An ex-Australian opening batsman, Mathew Hayden, has suggested the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) organize the Indian Premier League (IPL) behind the close doors amidst the Coronavirus outbreak.
He thinks Sri Lanka might be the best venue to go with for organizing the cash-rich league. Earlier, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) proposed BCCI to hold IPL at their nation saying they will be providing all facilities, however, the Indian board denied saying there isn’t any proposal from the Island country.
The Coronavirus pandemic has halted the cricketing activities around the globe. All the leagues, series, tours, and tournaments were either called off or postponed. IPL was one of the leagues to be started that got disruption in its way. It was to be commenced by 29th March, however, further extensions thrice in the lockdown, in the end, has postponed the cash-rich league for an indefinite time period until further notice.
Mathew Hayden thinks that Sri Lanka might be the finest venue to organize IPL without overseas players behind closed doors as the availability of foreign players might be another major issue due to delayed flights across the globe. According to him, it would be better to organize the league without spectators rather than losing the billions by canceling it definitely.
Mathew Hayden: Host IPL 2020 without overseas players in Sri Lanka
“Certainly the IPL could take exist without foreign players. I think it would be a product that is being compromised naturally because foreign players do add a lot to the IPL. They raise the level of awareness and excitement among fans. Getting nations together has in fact made IPL the fun that it has been,” Mathew Hayden said as quoted by TOI.
“But in conditions like this, it could go on without foreign players and it should go on if all health issues have been uncompromised and the game can proceed in clean stadiums.”
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