Dr Mansingh: 2020 CPL could still be on

Cricket analyst and sports physician Dr Akshai Mansingh believes that the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season could still happen this year, depending on the health status of participating Caribbean islands.

The eighth edition of the T20 tournament is still scheduled to start in August, but there is uncertainty due to the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In an ESPNcricinfo report on April 17, CPL organisers explored options for hosting the tournament, including having no fans in attendance. CPL chief operating officer Peter Russell, in that report, said that the time frame allows them not to make a snap decision.

Mansingh, who is also dean of the Faculty of Sport at The University of the West Indies, Mona, believes that it is possible to have the event in some capacity as the number of recoveries climbs regionally, but is waiting to see if the current quarantine period of two weeks will be maintained as it could play a factor.

“The way things are going, the trend that it’s taking, it suggesting that it’s probably going to be feasible to have it in some shape or form. What we have to see is what quarantine periods are because if we continue to have two-week quarantine periods, it would be impractical to move players from jurisdiction to jurisdiction if they have to wait out two weeks of quarantine,” Mansingh told The Gleaner.