IPL beginning without the buzz
After months of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the delayed season of the Indian Premier Group will start in the UAE on Saturday with a clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
The 2020 edition of the T20 group was at first scheduled to get started on March 29 in India but needed to be postponed indefinitely by the country's cricket board because of worsening situation of the pandemic.
IPL's cancellation could have meant a probable $534 million loss in revenue, leading the board to change the tournament out of India. The postponement of this year's Twenty20 World Cup in Australia due to the pandemic as well helped. It presented a screen in the cricket calendar for the eight-team group, which is usually attended by almost all of the world's leading players.
The matches will be held in bio-secure bubbles in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi before empty stands but organisers are hoping to permit some fans through the soon after stages of the tournament.
BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly felt organising the event was an effort to bring normality to people's life found in India.
"Crowds will look at it on television ... they (broadcasters) are in fact expecting the highest rating of IPL this year because they consider if (people) don't arrive in the ground, they'll be actually watching on the television sets," ex - India captain Ganguly stated. "You will find a positive in everything."
It will not be the first time that the competition has had to be held outside India. The 2009 2009 edition occurred in South Africa since it coincided with India's general elections and the UAE hosted the first matches of the eight-workforce tournament five years in the future for the same motive.
But finding a host country had not been the only obstacle in organising the IPL for the Indian plank as the tournament shed its title sponsor per month before its scheduled commence.
Amid an evergrowing backlash against Chinese companies in India and a weak business environment following pandemic, smartphone maker Vivo pulled out of this year's edition. Fantasy gaming company Dream11 emerged in as an alternative, paying the league 50% less than Vivo, which had secured the 2018-2022 rights for almost $293 million.
"When you encounter such challenging situations and the tournament confronted such impediments, you happen to be bound to lose on selected revenues," BCCI treasurer Arun Sigh Dhumal advised Reuters. "Looking at the overall picture, you need to be happy that at least something is happening in this environment."
There will, even so, be some notable absentees at this year's event.
The English duo of Chris Woakes and Jason Roy and Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga have all pulled out.
