IPL 2020: BCCI give franchises 5 potential start dates to agree upon amidst postponement

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made a huge decision on Friday when y anunced that launch date of upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) has been postponed to April 15. cash-rich league was initially scheduled to commence on March 29 with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on last year's runners-up Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium. BCCI’s decision comes on backdrop of ongoing countrywide panic created by highly-contagious Coronavirus.

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IPL 2020 schedule: BCCI offers five alternative dates to franchises

A meeting was conducted on March 14 between IPL 2020 governing council and  representatives of eight franchises. In meeting, franchises were given five potential dates for commencement of IPL. five dates are April 15, April 21, April 25, May 1 and May 5.

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IPL 2020 is a massive tournament which goes on for almost two months. Even if double-headers are played, it still takes time for tournament to get completed. governing body made it clear that with IPL being a long tournament, it has to begin on or before April 25, beyond which accommodating all games would be a problem.

However, re is one way to reduce number of matches played. In IPL, teams play each or twice. One at home and one away. If this concept is reduced to m playing each or once, n duration of whole tournament can be reduced.

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An official, while speaking to a leading media network, said that in  past when IPL was moved to South Africa in 2009, it was conducted over a span of 37 days. So if IPL 2020 gets started by April 25 and runs till May end, it can be pulled off. But if it’s beyond that, it’s hard to plan IPL 2020 schedule. He added that one option is avoiding home-away concept and playing each or only once. Or is to have two groups. But option of splitting it into two groups hasn’t found any takers as some marquee clashes will go missing from calendar.

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