Star India supremo Uday Shankar had predicted that the Indian Premier League 2020 can garner over 550 million television audience. The Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly echoes the thought. The former Team India captain is expecting the IPL 2020 to shatter all audience records in the history of the professional T20 tournament.
“Crowds will watch it on television…they (the broadcasters) are actually expecting the highest rating of IPL this season because they believe if (people) don’t turn up in the ground, they will be actually watching on their television sets,” Ganguly reportedly said during an online lecture as part of the Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series.
“There is a positive in everything,” he added.
Ganguly, according to PTI, also said holding the IPL was important to ensure a sense of normalcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused disruption in every aspect of daily life.
The IPL in the UAE will start behind closed doors. However, Ganguly has hinted that fans may be allowed up to the 30% capacity of the stadiums.
He said the present situation is nothing but a small bump. “This is just a virus which is already weakening and we will hopefully get past it. These are small bumps in our life, and we have to get past it. We could have easily avoided the IPL…but then, that’s what we humans are and that’s why we have survived all the difficult times,” Ganguly said.
The IPL this year will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi from September 19 to November 10.