Could IPL 2020 take place overseas?

"If they play it in Sri Lanka, it's easy for Indian audiences to watch the games on TV. There's precedent for this because they've played the IPL in South Africa before. We're waiting for the Indian board to respond to our proposal.

"If the Indian board does agree to play the tournament here, we're ready to provide facilities in line with the requirements and recommendations of medical professionals. It would be a substantial source of income for Sri Lankan cricket as well."

Katich bats for new T20 World Cup window

The other high-profile event increasingly under the scanner is the T20 World Cup, scheduled to begin mid-October in Australia. Katich suggested that it could be pushed back towards the end of the Australian summer if the crisis made it impossible to hold the tournament within the planned window.

He said that while Australia seemed "pretty blessed" compared to other parts of the world in terms of the virus' spread, the tournament is still "a long way off".

"Potentially there's a chance to host it later in the summer, like the [recent] Women's T20 World Cup, and whether that's an opportunity to re-jig things… it'll be interesting to hear those discussions [which are] probably taking place at the moment and whether that's logistically possible with the FTP the way it is.

"But I'm sure that a T20 World Cup is a priority for all the organisers at the moment, to try and make sure that goes ahead at some point in the Australian summer given that we're hosting it."


Katich also admitted that it may be sensible for the inaugural season of the Hundred, the ECB's new 100-ball competition, to be delayed until next year.
He is due to coach the Manchester Originals in the tournament from July, but doubts have been cast over whether it will be possible to stage sporting fixtures that soon with the UK's confirmed death toll recently passing 12,000.

"There has been a lot of speculation about the Hundred given that it's a new tournament, that it probably doesn't make any sense for it to be played in front of empty stadiums [even] if it was OK in that July window.

"So there has been speculation about it potentially being delayed to start until next season, which I've got no problem with, and a lot of people would probably think that's the way to go if things keep tracking the way they are in the UK."

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