Australian batsman Steve Smith on Monday said that he is open to playing the Indian Premier League (IPL) if the T20 World Cup gets postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “I think when you are playing for your country at a World Cup, that’s the pinnacle for one-day or T20 cricket, so of course I’d prefer to play in that. But if that doesn’t happen and the IPL’s there, and they postpone it, then so be it,” Smith was quoted as saying.
“IPL’s also a terrific tournament as a domestic tournament. So that’s out of everyone’s control at the moment, players are just doing what we’re told and going where we need to go and playing whatever’s on at that stage,” he added. The T20 World Cup is slated to be held in Australia in October-November this year; however, the future of the tournament is not known due to coronavirus.
The IPL was slated to start from 29 March, but got postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic, and it is being speculated that the tournament might go ahead in October if the T20 World Cup is postponed. Smith also said that the news regarding T20 World Cup will be out in the public domain soon and added that he would just be following the guidelines issued by the government.
“I guess there’ll be some more news about it soon, probably some decisions to be made soon. I personally haven’t really thought about it, I think it’d just be going off the advice of the professionals and the governments and essentially doing what we’re told,” Smith said.