The priority will be the safety and well-being of the fans, athletes and employees, stated the BCCI following a meeting with the team owners of the IPL. The 2020 edition of the IPL was put off till April 15 amid the outbreak of Coronavirus and the BCCI on Saturday (March 14) maintained its stance that it will monitor the situation and work closely with the government and other regulatory bodies before deciding on the next course of action with regards to the IPL.
“The board will continue to monitor and work closely with the Government of India, state governments and other state regulatory bodies to decide on the future course of action in the best interest of public health. The BCCI and all its stakeholders are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for everyone involved in our great sport and the nation,” stated a media release.
One of the owner of Kings XI Punjab, Ness Wadia attended the meeting at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, when asked about IPL he said the situation could be reviewed after two-three weeks but the current focus is on health and safety.
“The meeting was to discuss the possible scenarios. Number one, most importantly, everyone in India and the world must understand, the BCCI, nor is the IPL nor Star here to gain monetary benefit by having the IPL. All the stakeholders, especially the BCCI and owners and Star, feel that it is incorrect to think about even one rupee,” Wadia told reporters.
“So we are not interested in money, we are not interested in having any gain from this situation and trying to hold the IPL without a clear understanding of the situation. Having said that, number one is the health and safety of everyone is looked after, Number two, we will follow whatever the government direction is.
“From a third perspective, no one is in a position to say when it’s going to start. We will review the situation after two-three weeks and hopefully, by then the cases (of COVID-19) will reduce. We should be clear that the most important thing is health and safety, not [financial] gain at the moment. We are not here to earn money, we are here to serve and protect the people.”
Parth Jindal, the Delhi Capitals co-owner, said a wait and watch approach will be taken. “We are committed to IPL and want it to happen but in today’s meeting we have decided to wait and watch the situation and how it goes in the next few days, later on, decide anything concrete. Today’s meeting was just to keep the owners posted about the current developments. As things evolve over time, BCCI will call for another meeting,” he said.
Let’s see what will be the next step of BCCI regarding the commencement of IPL, we can only wait and watch what will happen next!
