The powerful BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly is hopeful that the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League will be held, finally after the long exodus away from India, in the country where the concept of the IPL was conceived and born, i.e., India itself.
To some, the four-month period of break would not seem all that long or troublesome, but can we today imagine the mother of all T20 franchise battles away from the country where it came to light?
The recent edition of the IPL, i.e., the IPL 2021 was concluded on October 15, 2021 with the Kolkata Knight Riders finding themselves humbled by the Chennai Super Kings in a spectacle that was as entertaining as it was exciting, as per normal IPL standards. After all, that’s what one has come to expect from such a fantastic cricketing event that first came to light in 2008.
Friday, therefore, brought down curtains on an IPL edition, that, for the first time ever, was conducted in two different halves, the starting part of the Indian Premier League played rather controversially amid COVID times in India while the latter half concluded miles away from India, in the United Arab Emirates.
With Faf du Plessis hammering, not scoring, a fantastic half century that guided his Chennai team to a powerful first inning score, there was little that the side batting second could do, this is despite both Gill and Venkatesh Iyer struck magnificent fifties to propel KKR to a fighting 91 run score inside the eleventh over. But then, the rest of the line-up couldn’t get the deficit and the IPL 2021 culminated with CSK winning the title for the fourth time.
That said, the following is what the former left-handed batsman, among the leading captains around the world had to say in regards to the famous T20 tournament:
“I hope so, because it’s India’s tournament,” expressed Sourav Ganguly, the powerful figure of the BCCI as also a cricket legend of India when asked about what might be the chances of hosting the T20 premier event of the country in its home.
That being said, he would further add the following with regards to a tournament without which one can’t imagine the landscape of the sport in India as also India’s connection to T20 cricket:
“As much as you see the superb atmosphere in Dubai, it’s different in India. It’s absolutely madness in India with the stands full. We’d love to have it back in India.”
I’m sure in the next seven-eight months, the COVID-19 situation will be very different, and we can host it in India with packed stands and the supporters pouring.”
Now, all of that being said, just imagine the excitement and fun that would flow from the stands of a one of a kind country as it’ll prepare itself to welcome back the shortest form of the game, one without which India’s contemporary cricket verve stands aloof? Here’s to healthier and safer times for the planet, the cricketers, the cricket-loving nations and just about everyone come 2022 and the years thereafter.