IPL 2020: BCCI explores July-September window for IPL 13

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Mumbai, March 18: The BCCI has postponed the IPL 2020 until April 15 but there is no real clarity or certainty whether the tournament could take place even after that date because there is no news of any drastic improvement in health conditions because of still prevailing coronavirus.

There have been reports about BCCI exploring the April-May window to hold the IPL 2020 but a report in Times of India stated that the governing body could be looking seriously at a more practical July-September 2020 window.

A section in BCCI feels that the April-May window could be too tricky because there is no assurance of the Coronavirus peaking out in this timespan and if they explore the July-September window there is the possibility of the pandemic's effect waning.

It could also work in BCCI's favour that between July-September there no major series have been scheduled. England are hosting Pakistan for a full series and the Asia Cup is scheduled between these months too and India are to play three ODIs and as many T20Is in Sri Lanka (June/July) and The Hundred by ECB too will be over in July. This will give the BCCI a chance to conduct full 60 matches instead of a truncated IPL.

The IPL 2009 was held in South Africa inside 37 days and the BCCI could be looking at a similar window even if they host part of the IPL overseas, though that is a less explored option as of now.

"The 2009 IPL - in South Africa - was played inside 37 days. That's five weeks and two days. If that kind of a window is made available, the IPL can be held partly in India and partly overseas, or the entire tournament can be shifted, depending on how the Covid-19 situation is globally," ToI quoted a BCCI official.