Why IPL 2020 Should Be Played In India
IPL 2020 will be played in UAE. Here are the three reasons for the Government of India, BCCI and the fans/general public on why IPL 2020 should be played in India.
When India is learning to live with COVID-19, why not IPL 2020?
India is in the middle of the pandemic. We have the second-highest COVID-19 caseload in the world, soon we will occupy the top slot. We have the third-highest death count in the world, we shall occupy the top slot here too. Regardless, the Government continues to unlock. Except for the schools, children parks and cinema halls, everything else is back to normal.
The Government has made the students write the JEE/NEET entrance tests and final year college exams. The Supreme Court of India is supporting the Indian Government in all its endeavours. All this has been/is being done in the name of “learning to live with COVID-19”. The Indian citizens have no option but to follow the diktat.
With everything back to usual, what is the rationale for IPL 2020 to opt for foreign shores? When fans have learnt to live with COVID-19, why isn’t the BCCI willing to learn the same? Surely, the facilities on offer for the IPL teams in India will be much better than the conditions in which, you and me, the ordinary Indians live in.
IPL 2020 would give a much-needed reboot to the Indian economy
Q1 2020 GDP numbers show that the Indian economy contracted by -23.9%. The travel and the hospitality sector has been the worst affected. In such a scenario, holding IPL 2020 within the country would have given a much-needed breather to the airlines, airports, hotels, restaurants etc. Imagine the number of security personnel and house-keeping that would have got employed.
The fans are not going to be allowed to attend IPL 2020 matches in UAE. They would not have been allowed in India too. They are at peace with their fate of watching the matches on a screen. Just that, the Indian entities would have gained the business from IPL 2020 cricket teams and it would have been a god-send for them in these horrible times.
The Government claims to be working over-time to revive the Indian economy. Why aren’t the authorities bothered on the foregone business/jobs in the wake of IPL 2020 moving to the UAE? If the Government is expecting every Indian to be a part of Atmanirbhar Bharat, why is it letting BCCI be dependent on UAE and not the mother-land?
The National Pride
The sporting actions have re-started the world over. The European football leagues, the NBA in the US, even the cricket matches in England have resumed. All the associations have made their bio-bubbles and got down to entertaining their fans. However, there is not a single instance wherein the sporting action is being held outside the country.
No self-respecting country will allow this to happen. France, Netherlands, Belgium cancelled their football leagues. Do you expect their football associations to shift to Spain/Germany? No. They will not even consider this as an option. Whereas, in India, for staging the IPL 2020, BCCI was courting UAE, Sri Lanka, even New Zealand, who said that such an offer was never made, all throughout.
The Prime Minister is asking the leading companies of the world to invest in India. And what happens in his back-yard? One of the richest sports associations in the world shifts out of the country lock, stock and barrel. What message does this give to the world?
There will be no trust/faith/belief in the Indian promise and India.
We, the fans/general public, are to blame
Barring Pakistan, if any of the associations in the world would have shifted the sporting actions out of their country of origin, the fans would have revolted. The fans would have refused to see the games, the sponsors would have backed out etc.
In India, we accept this action as fait-accompli. In one stroke, BCCI has made us equal to Pakistan. How would it matter to them, though? They leave one Chinese company in the name of patriotism and then sit on the lap of another Chinese company. The money counts, not the lives of Indian soldiers. Has anybody raised a question about Dream11 or for that matter any question to BCCI?
We hold our politicians accountable for nothing. We expect them to have double standards for them and us. With such grounding, we are perfectly fine with being discarded by our IPL cricket teams and cricketers. We are used to being stomped and BCCI is well-aware. Rather, it will give us a false pride/delusion that with our money-power we are forcing our way into an alien country.
What are a national pride/economic revival and jobs/facing COVID-19 risks daily vis-a-vis seeing IPL in action? Let the IPL 2020 begin in UAE.