GANGULY UNSURE IF ‘CSK WILL PLAY IPL 2020’ AS PER SCHEDULE : “I CANNOT COMMENT ON THE SITUATION OF CSK” – REPORT

The preparations for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 were coming along well until Friday, August 28. The plans have taken a series of turns since then with regards to the schedule and the players who will take part in the tournament. For the first time since, BCCI President Ganguly has spoken about the series of unfortunate events.

IPL 2020 is to begin on September 19 in the UAE. All the eight franchises have already reached Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the same. On Friday, it was confirmed that after several rounds of testing, around 13 people had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, from the CSK staff. Later, on the same day it was made known that one of the players tested positive as well.

Reacting to these, Sourav Ganguly told the Times of India, “I cannot comment on the situation of CSK. We will see if they can start as per schedule. I hope the IPL will be conducted well. We have a long schedule for the tournament and I sincerely hope everything will go on just fine.”

Post this, CSK’s Suresh Raina returned to India and backed out from this year’s IPL. Another player was quoted in Hindustan Times saying, “Senior spinner Harbhajan Singh who is in India and did not take part in CSK’s preparatory camp in Chennai (Aug 15-20) is worried whether to participate in the tournament or not.” Foreign players are also in a similar dilemma.

Ganguly however, added that people will have to accept this as it is the reality. “The entire world is coping with the crisis. Football and cricket matches are being conducted to empty stadiums globally. We will also have to accept that reality.

“I have started working and do our work. I am not a full-fledged sportsperson anymore – I am half-and-half. I am balancing between family, cricket, BCCI and media work,” he said.