Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins, who became the most expensive overseas player in the history of the IPL after he was bought by KKR for INR 15.5 crores in the auctions last year, has shed light on the future of the IPL 2020 that has been postponed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Originally scheduled to start from March 29, the BCCI postponed the tournament to April 15 but is likely to be shifted to a later date due to the current lockdown in India.
Cummins revealed that he is in constant touch with the franchisee regarding the fate of the league, and added that the IPL officials are eager to host the event at a later date this year if the risk factors are kept to a minimum.
“Everything is changing, literally every single day,” Cummins told reporters via videoconference on Friday, as per cricket.com.au. “The last I spoke to (KKR team officials), they said they’re still really confident and hopeful it (the IPL) will be on at some stage.
“They obviously haven’t cancelled it or anything like that yet. It’s still a bit of a holding pattern, so we’re in contact with our teams every few days.
“Obviously everyone is still really keen for it to go ahead, but the priority is to minimise risk of (the virus) spreading. It’s going to be pretty tight, I think the (Indian) travel ban is in place until April 14 so I don’t expect anything too soon to happen.”
Cummins had surpassed Ben Stokes’ fee to become the most expensive foreign recruit in the IPL auctions. The English all-rounder had been sold to Rising Pune Supergiant for INR 14.5 crore at the IPL auctions 2017. Cummins is also the second most expensive buy among all players, with only Yuvraj Singh being more expensive than him. Yuvraj was bought for INR 16 crores by Delhi Daredevils.