On Wednesday, June 5, India will play their first match of World Cup 2019. On the other hand, South Africa will be playing their third match of the World Cup on the same day. For Indian fans, such kind of schedule is beyond logic, but both ICC and BCCI have their reasoning behind it.
The most marketable team in the cricket arena is playing a match after six days from the day tournament started. Well, this is due to a technical issue that ICC kept in mind before releasing the World Cup schedule.
As per the Lodha committee (appointed by the Supreme Court of India, to analyze and recommend actions for improving the BCCI after the IPL betting scandal came into the picture), India has to maintain a 15-day gap between IPL final and international match.
The IPL final, in general, is mostly played around 18th or 19th May every year, so a 15-day gap means India can’t play a match before June 4.
“The 2019 IPL will be played between March 29 and May 19. But we need to maintain a 15-day gap, and World Cup starts on May 30. Therefore as per the 15-day gap, we could have only played on June 5. Earlier, we were scheduled to start on June 2, but we couldn’t have played on that day,” a senior BCCI official said.
Interestingly, the IPL Final of 2019 was held on May 12, but the World Cup schedule was released way back in 2018.
“South Africa are our first opponents. The CEC agreed, and the matter has been referred to the ICC board,” the BCCI official added.
