The ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is dividing opinion. India, sadly, is battling a severe wave of COVID-19 infections whereby the daily rates of infections have now crossed well over 300,000.
Calls are growing louder that the BCCI is “tone deaf”, undertaking a tournament purely for financial reasons as the nation’s health system is severely stricken by the weight of India’s health crisis.
Also, the criticism is growing that the IPL, conducted in a bio-secure bubble, is completely oblivious to what’s happening outside of it.
On the other side of the coin, many argue that sport – in this instance, IPL – provides much-needed relief and distraction from the doom and gloom of a raging pandemic. Thanks to the IPL, cricket fans in India can have something to look forward to each day.
There are certainly cases for both arguments. But, no matter your stance, one thing is certain; the ICC need to start looking at protecting the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in India in October-November this year.
In fact, T20 International’s showpiece tournament has already been postponed once, as Australia were meant to host the event in October-November 2020.
Australia’s edition was moved to 2022, with India’s, originally pencilled in for 2022, moved to this year. This IPL was touted as a ‘trial run’, where the tournament would take place in a strict bio-secure bubble to show that India is ready to host large sporting tournaments.
However, India’s situation, just six months out from the tournament, is surely untenable for a major sporting event.
The risk for players, staff and all involved is there, even in a strict bio-secure bubble. This is especially the case when you consider flying 15 touring nations to India amid this pandemic, which looks completely unrealistic at this stage.
And, given all the logistics and planning involved, the ICC need to make a call sooner rather than later to get the tournament hosted in Australia, where the COVID-19 situation is largely under control.
Also, for athletes, the situation in India involves more than just staying safe within the nation itself. It is also the wonder – and fear – of actually being able to get back home with governments of other nations wary of opening the borders to those arriving from India.
Andrew Tye over the weekend made the decision to leave the IPL, followed quickly by fellow Australians Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who is one of India’s greatest spinners, has also taken a break from the tournament to support his family during India’s health crisis.
More players are expected to follow, as Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting continues to urge his players to talk about the “grim” situation outside of the IPL’s bio-secure bubble.
One question stems from this. How can a T20 World Cup – a showpiece global event in cricket – be held in such circumstances? With players and staff looking to avoid being caught in the middle of a raging pandemic, how can we still be thinking of hosting a showpiece tournament where hosting fans would be as risky as it is ridiculous?
Australia is fortunate to now being able to conduct its sporting events, including AFL and NRL with crowds. Imagine a situation where a T20 World Cup can be held with crowds, giving players of all nations the chance to put their name up in lights.
Imagine a situation where players can not only feel safer, but they can have less worries about being able to travel back home once the tournament is over.
The ICC, six months out from the tournament, can’t only imagine. Hosting the tournament in India surely brings in great financial rewards, but there are bigger things at play here.
India and the BCCI is an all-conquering force in world cricket, but what this IPL is telling us is that sport in India right now is neither feasible nor sustainable, especially when you consider many of the world’s leading cricketers have been in tight bubbles regularly for nearly a year.
Time for the ICC to act.
Peter
Roar Rookie
Let's hope it doesn't come here. It's bad enough that we have to put up with the big bash 2 months of every year. The best thing to come out of Covid was that the originally scheduled T20 World Cup was postponed.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
I think if it does come here, there will be a soft bubble eg what the Indians went through last summer - no catching public transport and eating outdoors in restaurants only.
Jack
Guest
I have to agree. India abs Au switch world cups back then we have crowds. UAE may be a good growth market for cricket but the population is engaged in cricket via a massive expat population. I am all for taking cricket World Cup to an associate nation like Malaysia or USA to grow the game but UAE is not the spot. Simple logical solution Au -2021 India -2022 Would be great for smaller counties like png who are making World Cup debuts to get some crowd there , much better viewing for there fans back at home as well.
Simoc
Guest
Sounds a pretty silly idea. One case of Covid in WA shuts down that State thanks to a grandstanding premier in the worlds most isolated city. You'de have to have every game in Sydney as the NSW Premier is the only one not playing politics with the pandemic and is keeping the state running. Just cancel it I reckon. Its best as a franchise competition.
Rob
Guest
If it's held in Australia there will be no need for a bio secure bubble (as long as there's no further COVID outbreaks here). Once the players and coaching staff arrive and complete their 14 day quarantine, there's really no reason for them to be locked away from everyone if there is virtually no COVID cases in Australia.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
I don't see it coming to Australia. Personally I think it'll either be in Sri Lanka or the UAE. Easier to have bio secure bubbles there due to more bus travels than travelling by planes to different cities/grounds
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Definitely. Even if they manage to continue the IPL to it's conclusion, it's one thing that some players might decide since they are already there they may as well see it through and quite another flying in lots of national teams into a place with such massive pandemic issues. I can't see any possible way that it can go ahead. With how bad things have got, it's going to take a long time to turn it around. It's a lot harder to enforce a strict lockdown in a nation like that where they can't just provide everyone who is unable to work with government support like Australia was able to do.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Althought they ran the IPL in the UAE last year, and since they are playing to empty stadiums you've got to think that it would make little difference where it's physically played since it's purely a TV product now. They basically decided to bring the IPL back to India because of arrogant and naive proclamations by their politicians that they'd basically beaten the virus and such, rather than any sort of reality. But the situation has also dramatically worsened during the IPL. It didn't seem anywhere near this bad when they started it. So it becomes a difficult thing I guess to know what to do at this point since they are already going. For the local players, the safest place they can be is remaining in the IPL bubbles. If they cancelled the tournament and ended the bubble so all local players just went back into the general population that would put those players all at much more risk. Players from countries like Australia and NZ, of course, the risk does down dramatically if they left the IPL bubble because the places they would return to are largely COVID-free.
Paul
Roar Guru
Agreed. It's important though to differentiate between the IPL, which is run by cashed up franchises and the World Cup, which is run by the ICC. In the first instance, the various franchises want to make money on their investment, which I'm sure is one of the issues the BCCI is struggling with. The ICC doesn't have this same worry, given Australia or even New Zeland could probably host the event without causing too much financial pain.