IPL 2020 | Everyone Loses At The Hands Of COVID-19

Match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knightriders during DLF IPL 2008 (Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan)

At the beginning of 2019, the novel coronavirus began to emerge and spread. Due to the risks of contracting the virus, the Indian Premier League has been suspended. The indefinite suspension of the IPL 2020 will affect the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s annual revenue. Additionally, the suspension will also affect many players financially and professionally.

The IPL is the richest cricket league in the world, bringing in the best cricketers from around the world. This tournament is played during an eight-week time frame usually between the end of March to mid-May. However, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Indian government suspended all visas, and later on, implemented a nationwide lockdown. These two actions led to the IPL 2020 being suspended indefinitely as overseas players were not able to get visas and spectators could not come to watch the games at the stadiums.

 Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the BCCI and IPL stakeholders are projected to lose up to ₹60,000,000,000 ($788,000,000).

“Obviously if the organization takes a financial hit, the salaries of the employees get affected as well. The pay cuts are a possibility,” a BCCI official said to the Times Now News.

The BCCI and the teams are losing money due to the possibility of no IPL which would lead to many players getting no salary. The players are not only facing financial problems but they are also facing job insecurities.

“For athletes, there would be a range of experiences, from welcome relief for the established to anxiety and insecurity, both professionally and financially, for possibly a greater number,” former Rajasthan Royals coach Paddy Upton said to the Hindustan Times.

The IPL is a platform for many new and young players to show their talents to get a chance to play international cricket. Without the IPL many of the new players could have anxiety professionally and finality as they would have to wait another year to show their talent and get paid. However many including fans, players, the team owners, and the BCCI would want to see some form of the IPL in 2020.

“If it was a choice of no IPL or a domestic player-only IPL I would choose the latter,""I think we will have some form of the tournament this year. It will probably be a shortened tournament”Rajasthan Royals majority owner Manoj Badale said to ESPNCricInfo.

Badale still wants to see an IPL regardless of whether it be a shortened season without fans and international players. An official has mentioned that playing behind closed doors will be the last resort as it would hurt the BCCI financially and the games would not have the same feeling. There are talks for having the IPL later in the year when the COVID-19 Pandemic becomes controlled. Yet for now, the IPL is indefinitely suspended, players are not getting paid, and the BCCI is losing a lot of money.

Jacob Robles also contributed to this article

Chris Gayle swings for the skies in the IPL

Chris Gayle/ paddynapper / flickr.com

Chris Gayle is a Jamaican cricketer who is renowned for his ability to get large amounts of runs. Gayle is an all-rounder, meaning he bowls and bats. Gayle has played as captain for the West Indies international team, but hasn't played since their test match against Sri Lanka in 2010, after having an argument with the West Indies Cricket Board. Gayle is trying to get picked up for the team, and his game play from last year might help him do that.

In the 2011 season, the Royal Challengers Bangalore lined up Gayle as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. This was the second game of the season and Gayle needed to make a big name for himself after struggling in the past few years of T20 international cricket. He started off the tournament with 102 rounds off of 55 balls, a century in the first game of the tournament.

Last season, Gayle led RCB to the finals with a plethora of sixes. He averaged a half century per game and had more sixes than fours. He was dominant enough that RCB took Nannes out as the opener and put Gayle instead. Every team in the IPL is scared to see Gayle crossing the boundaries. The fans are scared too, “Dearest gayle, I [sic] m [sic] comin [sic] to c [sic] u [sic] bat tonight at the wankhede.. plz [sic] dont [sic] break my Nose by those nuclear missiles,” said fan 786338sumeet on Twitter.

This season, Gayle is off to a hot start. Fast bowlers, spinners, coaches, and video analysts are all confused at how well Gayle can hit any ball with immense power. His tally for sixes in the season has risen to 37 after Wednesday’s game against the Mumbai Indians. He has 33 boundaries and took his run tally over 500. The 32- year old has already reached a century of sixes, the only man to do so in IPL history.

In the past few years, Gayle has not been stepping up on the West Indies team. He was replaced as opener by Adrian Barath and didn't seem to be interested in playing. Now, the West Indies team are the only people missing out. They have been missing Gayle in test matches, especially against powerhouses like Bangladesh and India.  Gayle has to talk with the West Indies Cricket Board, and if they have been watching RCB games, they’ll know that he has gotten better and that he is the hottest batsman in the world right now.