London Mayor Wants To Host Indian Premier League In The City

London Mayor Sadiq Khan wants to bring the glitzy Indian Premier League(IPL) to the British capital as he seeks to establish the city as the "undisputed sporting capital" of the world. Khan hopes fu

Pressed on a timescale, Khan said there was no reason that friendlies could not take place later this year, saying his IPL vision extended beyond London.

"The first step will be the exhibition games. And they have to be Covid-safe, of course," he said.

"At the moment, I'm speaking to Surrey," added Khan, who once had a trial for the club as a 15-year-old.

"But I'd love to see these games not just at Lord’s but Headingley, Edgbaston, Old Trafford and other stadiums. London is the shop window to our nation. You only get a national recovery with a London recovery."

Khan said playing IPL matches in London could help persuade the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to relax its policy prohibiting star players from taking part in overseas leagues and pave the way for their involvement in the ECB's new Hundred tournament.

"When you speak to the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board), they would love for Indian players to be playing in the Hundred," said Khan. "I don't want London just to be a place where Indians invest and shoot Bollywood movies, I want the IPL here as well."

There is no indication that the BCCI has plans to take IPL matches out of the country and even in a post-Covid world the logistics of such a move could prove difficult.

The IPL has been held outside India before -- in 2009 it was staged in South Africa due to security issues and last year it was played in the United Arab Emirates because of the coronavirus pandemic.