Just don't see gap in calendar for IPL to be rescheduled: Atherton

LONDON: Former England captain Mike Atherton said that while a lot of people would want the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held at some point considering the revenue it brings to global cricket, he can't see when it can be rescheduled to.

"I just don't see where the gap (in the schedule) is. India come to England for five Test matches in the summer — and that ends around mid-September. Then the T20 World Cup, which is supposed to be in India - but who knows, they may have to move that tournament to the UAE — takes place in mid-October," Atherton told Sky Sports.

"There is maybe a gap there, but all countries will already have their pre-T20 World Cup preparations baked in now — England are due to go to Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example — and you're also asking India's players, who have spent long, long periods inside these bubbles, and then asking them to spend more time in one, it seems hard to me," he said. Atherton said that any argument for holding the IPL would have become unacceptable when Covid-19 cases started emerging within the bio-bubble.

"It became inevitable once the Covid cases got inside the franchises' bubbles — three or four franchises had to go into quarantine or isolation — and, once that happened, the tournament became impossible really," he said.

"Up until that point, they could make an argument that in a pretty horrendous time for India, the IPL was providing a bit of daily respite for people to watch in the evening. That argument held water, just about, but it didn't once the bubbles were breached," said Atherton. (IANS)

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