IPL to affect Bangladesh’s tour to Sri Lanka
Image : Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
The upcoming Indian Premier League is having an impact on the rescheduling of Bangladesh’s tour to Sri Lanka, said BCB insiders on Monday. According to sources, SLC has confirmed three-match Test series against the tourist but they are not interested to host any shorter format games.
However, SLC is taking time to announce the venues and dates for the upcoming series but there is a strong possibility that it can be differed to November to give room for IPL.
There is a strong possibility that the Test series will start from November 3 and if that is the case it is understood that SLC is not ready to clash with the IPL considering the tournament will be nearing the end.
According to BCB insiders, this delay from SLC's part is largely due to the IPL as the host board is not ready to clash with the cash-rich tournament that is likely to have all the attention from the worldwide viewers. Moreover, the league has moved to UAE this year in the middle of Covid -19 and cricket won’t be the same for players and the viewers during the 53-day tournament as well.
IPL’s 13th edition will be hosted in UAE from September 19 to November 10 and according to the draft of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) the Indian board had shared with the eight franchises, IPL will start to sanitized empty stands and with players in bio-secure bubbles too.
"You cannot deny the existence of IPL and we must accept that considering in the past during the time of the IPL cricketing activities around the world remained almost shut,’’ said BCB officials on request on anonymity.
"This time around the demand of the broadcaster in the IPL is very high considering it will be hosted on almost empty grounds and so everyone will be looking to get the pie of the cake through the TV set," he said.
"If we consider the business side when the tournament [IPL] is going there will be hardly any interest for the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka series but that will not be the case if the series starts in November because by that time IPL will be nearing the end," he further added.
As far as cricketers are concerned, the rescheduling of the series will have a little impact on the IPL season as none of the Bangladesh cricketers have been picked by the league franchises this season.
Even in regard to the Sri Lankan cricketers, only two from the island nation are in the IPL squads and both should be relieved by Sri Lanka cricket as they are not part of the Test teams.
Mumbai Indians has Lasith Malinga in their squad and all-rounder Isuru Udana is a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team. Both should not face any challenge getting a no-objection certificate from SLC to play in IPL 2020.
Originally, Sri Lanka was scheduled to host Bangladesh in July for a three-Test series but due to COVID-19, the series will be now pushed to either October or November.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury is looking to "work-around with our schedule" after the postponement of the T20 World Cup.
Bangladesh will tour Sri Lanka for their first three-match red-ball series in six years which is also a part of the ongoing ICC Test Championship. The series was originally scheduled to take place in July-August but owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, both the board had decided to postpone the series but the announcement of deferring the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 to 2021, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have agreed to find a new window to host the series.
