IPL 2020: Franchisees in tension after knowing probable IPL 2020 dates

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wants to start the next season of IPL from March 28, but franchisees say that there are two big series during this period, due to which foreign players may have problems coming. It is important to mention here that Australia and New Zealand will play a series of three T20 matches during this period, while England and Sri Lanka will play two Test matches.

A senior franchise official told IANS that the official calendar was not out yet but he was hopeful that the Governing Council would go back to its old format, with double headers, and the league starting on April 1.

"The final T20 match of Australia and New Zealand series will end on March 29 while the last day of the second Test for England and Sri Lanka is March 31," the official said. In this situation you will start the season without your big players and it will not be a good thing. If we start from April 1, things can get better. Hopefully, the IPL Governing Council will listen to what we are saying.

Another franchise official said that four franchisees have raised the issue during the meeting on the evening of the auction. The official said, "Look, this is a situation that is not going in favor of the franchisees and the issue was also discussed between four to five teams." Nobody wants to start on the backfoot. But we can only hope. We still have a few weeks to go before the calendar arrives. We can appeal.

Another official said, 'Last year, our players had finally gone and this time we can start the season without our top-4 players. IPL governing council should focus on this as we would like to start well and get a good rhythm at the start of the season. The decision on the dates of the upcoming season of IPL has to be taken by the Governing Council whether it wants to start the league from March 28 or from April 1.

 See: IPL 2020 schedule