IPL’s brand value can suffer if held in England: Monty Panesar

Indian cricket board will be risking Indian Premier League’s brand value if it holds remainder of cash-rich tournament in September in England since rain can leave matches truncated, said former England spinner Monty Panesar.

India will end their five-match Test series in England on September 14 and there have been talks that monthlong window between end of that series and T20 World Cup could be ideal to host the remaining 31 matches of IPL, which was postponed this month due to COVID-19 cases in four franchises.

“IPL shouldn’t be held in England in September because it will rain a lot there. Too many intervals will spoil the fun,” said the former left-arm spinner on Sports Yaari, a YouTube show. “If India are not able to control the pandemic, it should be held in UAE because weather conditions play a huge factor,” added the bowler who played a key role in England winning the Test series in India 2-1 in 2012-13.

“When it rains in England, it plays spoilsport. You will see a T20 match get reduced to 15 overs and then 10 overs. We don’t want that to happen with IPL because the brand will take a hit.

“The biggest thing in favour of IPL is that there are completed games in it. There is a lot of excitement in IPL games between 15th and 20th overs as that phase is pretty high-scoring. Authorities should take weather into account while deciding fixtures. Weather in UAE is great.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has apparently made an informal request to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to advance the Test series by a week to provide a window. However, that is unlikely to happen. The BCCI has an option to hold the tournament in UAE in the monthlong gap between India’s series in England and the T20 World Cup.