Ater BCCI president Sourav Ganguly revealed that the board was looking at all options to hold the IPL this year, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore said that all the collective view of all the franchises is that the format should not be tinkered with and the full spread of foreign players should be allowed to take part as usual whenever the cash-rich tournament takes place.
Mysore, speaking during KKR’s initiative to launch ‘KKR Sahayata Vahan’ which will cater to multiple locations across West Bengal and help distribute essential kits to people affected by Cyclone Amphan, said they strongly feel the quality of the product should not be tinkered with.
“I think it is without doubt that IPL as a product has become the biggest spectacle which has caught the imagination of not only India as a country but the world at large,” Mysore told reporters via video conferencing as quoted by IANS.
“This has happened because of the combination of things that has made this phenomenon called IPL. Yes it’s Indian Premier League, it is primarily our Indian players who are the backbone of any team, but I think we should recognise that when you look at our own team…when you look at a Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan…when these four come as a combination to our excellent line up that we have on the Indian side, that’s what makes this product very very special.
“You can go through team by team and discuss along the same lines. So one thing that we feel strongly about is we should not tinker with the quality of the product that we have. And the quality of the product is what has made it really special.
“So from a KKR perspective I can tell you and the majority of the franchises…it is safe to say that the collective view is that we have to have the tournament in its full format, same number of games with all the players being part of it. And I would hope whichever window we are staging the IPL, we would be in a position to achieve that,” added Mysore.
The IPL 2020, which was scheduled to be played from March 29 this year, was earlier postponed to April 15 before it was suspended indefinitely due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With IANS inputs