IPL 2020 is great news for all of us - Sachin Tendulkar

With the IPL set to begin on September 19, the news is sure to be music to the ears of all cricket aficionados around the world. Speaking to Boria Majumdar on India Today's show entitled 'Inspiration', Sachin Tendulkar claims that the Indian Premier League (IPL) would inevitably spread positivity and smiles during trying circumstances.

"IPL is great news for all of us. A number of other sports have resumed, I have been watching a bit of football, F1, Test cricket in England. So it's nice that IPL will be played in the UAE," Sachin said on the show 'Inspiration'. 

Sachin said that the tournament would enable people to talk about cricket metrics rather than the COVID cases that are pervasive in the country.

"For a change, we will be discussing other numbers, statistics we will be discussing and talking about would be the strike rates and the run rates and not about Covid-19 -- how many cases have increased today and what are the doctors projecting. Those numbers are not what one would hear. We will hear something else now. I know that people after having gone to work and come back after a strenuous day, they would have something else to talk about. It could be Mumbai or Bengaluru or Delhi or whichever team which is topping the table and not the cities topping the COVID table. The cases should come down,” he said. 

Concluding on an optimistic note, the 47-year-old hopes that the cases of COVID-19 in India will plummet down and the cricketing parameters, including run-rate and strike rate, will be at the forefront.

"I am hoping and praying the cases will come down and the strike rate and the run rate and all those numbers are at the forefront. I just feel that this is great news not only for athletes but it’s going to do a lot of good to other people where they will be able to distract their mind and some would surely have a smile on their face," Tendulkar further added.