Cricket in action: The Hindu Editorial on IPL 2020

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is seen as the glitzy high of the cricketing season, with its daily share of short bursts of thrills stretched across the summer. Since its launch in 2008, the IPL became a seasonal fix as inevitable as soaring temperatures and the reflexive craving for ice creams. The Twenty20 tournament seemingly brooked no resistance while the purists leant on the classical air that permeated Test cricket. Even in 2009 and 2014 when the Lok Sabha elections clashed with the IPL’s schedule, the Board of Control for Cricket in India solved the logistical nightmare. South Africa played host in the first instance while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) conducted the initial set of matches in 2014. But 2020 has been a difficult year for humankind with the relentless spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Since March, sport with its social-gathering moorings had to pause: the…