Reasony why next year's IPL should be scrapped

IPL or if I may say the biggest cricketing league in the world has only been growing every year. It has already completed 11 seasons with Mumbai Indians and CSK winning the tournament 3 times each and KKR tallying to 2. Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals have lifted the title once each with Royals winning the first season in 2008. Only Delhi Daredevils, RCB, and Kings XI Punjab have not been able to win it yet.

Players from all over the world come together to be a part of this league. Players from England, NewZealand, South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Bangladesh. Players from Afganistan have also been part of IPL. Last year one player from Nepal namely Sandeep Lamichhane made his debut for the Delhi Daredevils.

Many stars have been born from this league and many players have made their presence felt in the cricketing world through this channel. Many Indian players from IPL have made their way to the national side. Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Chandran Ashwin, Hardik Pandya are only a few of such names.

The Schedule of IPL 2019 is out and it will be held from 29th March to 19th May. Contrary to popular beliefs, let us look at some reasons why IPL 2019 should be either scrapped or postponed.

World Cup just after the IPL

The schedule of the 2019 50-overs World Cup which will be played in England and Ireland has been announced with the tournament starting from 30th May and concluding on 14th July. The gap between IPL and the World Cup tournament is just 10 days. Both Indian and foreign players will be reluctant to play in the IPL next year as they would not want to get injured just before the prestigious tournament.

BCCI has already postponed India's first match from 2nd June to 5th June because of Lodha committee guidelines of having a break of at least 15 days between world cup and the IPL.

Other Cricket boards like England, Australia, and South Africa will be reluctant to send their players for IPL as they would not want their bests to get injured and hamper their chances of recording a victory.

And as a precautionary measure, if many players opt out of the IPL, then it would not be as entertaining as it used to be. Players are like the lifeline of the entire tournament and I am sure when I say this I speak for the masses that nobody would want to see RCB without Virat Kohli or Mumbai Indians without Rohit and Hardik and CSK without MS Dhoni.

If players like Ben Stokes, Jos Butler, Kane Williamson, David Warner, and others are not allowed by their respective boards to participate, it will hamper the viewership badly.

General Election next year

The Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year and insufficient security availability during that time will move the IPL tournament out of India. It has already been shifted twice in the past due to general elections. In 2009, the IPL was played in South Africa and in 2014 a part of it was played in UAE.

BCCI is looking for a similar option next year. It is likely that the next years' IPL will be played in UAE. The driving reason behind this is that there isn't much time- zone difference between the two nations.

While it might not affect the television viewership much, the grounds in UAE will definitely not be sold out as in India. It will definitely affect the economics of the IPL team owners.

Because of these two reasons, I feel BCCI should try to postpone it, if possible.