Melbourne: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Simon Katich is open to the idea of having the 2020 IPL outside India. He has ‘no doubt’ the cash-rich league will take place in some form later in the year. The BCCI suspended Thursday the IPL ‘till further notice’ in the wake of the fast-spreading COVID-19 pandemic.
Simon Katich’s thoughts
“Whether it would be in Australia (or elsewhere), that’s an interesting topic of conversation. There would be a few teams – us in particular at RCB, we’d be very happy for it to be played abroad. This is because a number of our overseas players are Australian and South African. They really enjoy the conditions in Australia,” Katich told ‘SEN Radio’.
“It would be interesting to see if that would eventuate but obviously it’s one of many scenarios that’s being discussed.”
The IPL took place in South Africa in 2009 owing to the general elections in India at the same time. Due to the same reason, a part of the tournament was held in the UAE in 2014.
Katich had replaced Gary Kirsten as the RCB head coach after the IPL last year. The Virat Kohli-led team is yet to win the league.
The former Australian batsman said the BCCI would leave no stone unturned to stage the IPL this year. “It’s obviously the biggest T20 tournament in the world. People in India love their cricket. But I think they’re also realistic to know that they have to sit tight now. They have to ride this out however long that takes,” Katich said.
“There is a huge economic side to this in terms of what the IPL generates. The Indian economy benefits as well as the franchises and the BCCI. I guess the thing that has to be weighed up is… there’s probably a little bit of a difference in terms of the IPL. Because of the amount of eyeballs that are on the IPL in India, it is viable to conduct it,” Katich added.
Option available
The only window which the BCCI can target for hosting the tournament is September-November.
For that to happen, India will have to skip the Asia Cup in Dubai. Otherwise, Cricket Australia (CA) and the ICC will have to agree to postpone the T20 World Cup, scheduled for October-November.
Katich said pushing the T20 World Cup to later in the Australian summer is an option.
“Potentially there’s a chance to host it later in the summer, like the (recent) Women’s T20 World Cup (which was held in February). That certainly will rejig things,” Katich pointed out.
Agencies