Hugely disappointing IPL 2020 not taking place in India: Steve Smith

Tags: IPL 2020, Steve Smith, Steven Peter Devereux Smith

Published on: Aug 03, 2020

Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith has expressed disappointment at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 not being held in India due to the coronavirus pandemic. He did add though that the conditions in Dubai might be like that in India.

"Part of being a professional cricketer is that you need to adapt and conditions in Dubai may be the same like India. A couple of our players have played in the UAE in 2014 and have the experience.

"Yes, it’s hugely disappointing that it’s not taking place in India but it’s a decision to get the tournament up and running,’’ Steve Smith stated at a virtual interactive session following the screening of the documentary ‘The Inside Story: A season with Rajasthan Royals.'

IPL 2020 was originally scheduled to be held from March 29 but was postponed indefinitely by BCCI in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic. Following the rescheduling of the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup, IPL has now found the window to host the IPL from September to November.

IPL 2020 is likely to be held across three venues in UAE --Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. The IPL Governing Council will meet on August 2 to finalise the schedule and other crucial aspects of the tournament.

On a lighter note, Smith said that he hopes his RR teammates Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer do not perform too well when Australia tour England. He wants them to deliver their best while playing for the Royals in the IPL. The trio are not featuring in the series against Ireland, but are expected to be back for Australia series.

Australia are likely to feature in a 3-match ODI and T20I series versus England that will end a few days before the IPL is scheduled to begin. "I will be playing against a few of my Rajasthan teammates in the series (Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer) and hopefully, my teammates in England shouldn’t score too many runs or take too many wickets against us. They should rather reserve it for the IPL.

"The last time I played a competitive game was way back in February. However, the situation will be more or less the same for all teams and I can tell you that the players are jumping to get out of their skins to get some action,’’ Smith, one of the modern run machines of the game, further added during the interactive session.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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