 Hello and let's talk about the latest in the world of cricket. The fate of the T20 World Cup scheduled for October and November will be decided by the International Cricket Council today. There is increasingly a consensus that the event may be difficult to hold. If it does not happen, there is a possibility that the Indian Premier League might be held at the same time, but not in India, but in the United Arab Emirates. Now, the IPL will definitely bring with it its own set of challenges. We talked to Leslie Xavier on some of these issues. Thank you, Leslie, for joining us. So a lot of developments this week in the world of cricket, both the international level and the Indian level. So let's maybe first start talking about the international level and the World Cup itself. Could you just take us through what is right now happening and what do the prospects look like? So it's connected intrinsically, the international as well as the domestic level. I'll get to that. So last two months, there have been a lot of deliberations on whether the ICC World Cup that was scheduled for November in Australia should be held or not. And the deliberation partly and allegedly was caused by the DCCI's insistence that they need to hold the IPL, a lot of money at stake on that department. So they need to hold the IPL this year at whatever the cost. And the only window available is the window that is reserved for the T20 World Cup. So if the World Cup is not held, obviously IPL get that chance to be staged. But that decision is pending, the deliberation will start at the ICC later, via video conferencing later this day. And most likely the World Cup would be, if at all a decision, they come to a decision because this has been postponed the last two months. So they were playing a wait and watch game because it's a big call World Cup. And with Cricket restarting the action happening in England, the England versus West Indies series, there was hope that the same formula can be applied in organizing the tournament down under. But the point that goes against the tournament over there is it's a World Cup, it's not two teams that are involved, it's many teams. Again, but Cricket being a smaller World Cup, maybe it can be made possible. But the other point being, Cricket Australia doesn't stand to gain a lot from this exercise but I mean, compared to the risks that are in place. So firstly, spectators won't be allowed in, so the gate revenue goes out of the window. Be fully dependent on broadcast revenue, which gets distributed to various entities, various stakeholders. So it's not CS, but the gate revenue would have been completely Cricket Australia. So starting with that, there are a lot of things that are at stake which would go against Cricket Australia holding this. Plus VCCA has, I mean, more or less extended an incentive for CA to back off, though I'm not saying that that's the reason why CA is backing off in the first place. Because there is a tour, there is a test tour that has been planned where India will go to Australia in December. So that's a big stake, that has more money at stake than the World Cup for Cricket Australia because the revenue is higher. So most likely the World Cup would be postponed and then that opens the window for the IPL. So regarding the IPL itself, there are again a lot of controversies. The first question maybe is that how prepared do you think RB to actually conduct the IPL? So last week, we were having a discussion within the NewsClick Sports Test about whether in India it is feasible at all to have an eco-bubble kind of a setup. So in England, what is happening is that both the test matches that are happening are being held at venues, Old Trafford as well as Southampton, where hotels are there in the stadium facility itself. So the players are practically staying at the venue, they're not going out anywhere, training, playing, spending time in the hotel and everything is well defined. It won't be possible in India and also having a centralized setup where one or two or three venues for all these teams to play through the IPL season, that's also logistically difficult because of the facilities for boarding of these players, it has to be in hotels around the stadium and so it's a logistical nightmare that way. And BCC has decided, I mean, so the things have already been set in motion even before the fate of the World Cup is decided. Last week itself, there were talks and reports, citing sources that there have been directives given to the IPL franchises to start preparing for taking their teams to UAE and this season's IPL would be held in the UAE. Why UAE? Because stadium facilities are there, Abu Dhabi they might be using as the place for the teams to put up and also BCCI is thinking that logistically as far as security and safety of the players are concerned, it's easier to create a secure environment in the Middle East than in India where a lot of factors come in, including fans, I mean, movement of players from the venue to the stadiums and all these things and also cases are spiking in the country. So these are the various factors that BCCI took into consideration. Also probably the hidden factor that World Cup, they know more than what we know that the World Cup is going to be possible. So already the directives are out there and teams are mulling whether to convene the players in India, quarantine them here, theater and eco bubble and then obviously private jets would be used, charter flights would be used to take them to the UAE where they would be quarantined again for 14 days and after that the tournament starts or whether the foreign players should convene in UAE directly. So all these factors have been deciding a lot of X, Y, Z are there. So things have been set in motion, that's the thing. So there are a few points which are important which the BCCI should look into it while getting into steps to organize the matches and the first being the lesson learned from England. So the second match is ongoing, I mean before the second match started, teams were traveling from Southampton to Manchester to Old Trafford. And so English players for some reason were allowed to use their own vehicles to travel. They were driving their cars but they were given a set path to follow, stopovers every area and don't take any detours, just go straight to the other venue. And West Indies team obviously traveled by the team bus. So Joffre Archer, the English fast bowler, West Indian born English fast bowler, he decided to take a 100 mile detour and visit his family, his friend or family, that's not clear yet. So subsequently he was barred from taking part in the match, he has been asked to quarantine himself because it's a safety compromise, he might have gotten infected by exposing himself like that because the place was supposed to be in the eco bubble and the kind of money that is at stake, the kind of reputation that is at stake, cricket's future in itself at stake and then responsible behaviour. So ECB was very harsh on, I mean very hard on coming, I mean punishing Archer to set an example that such things won't be tolerated. So this is the national cricket board that's organising these matches and supposedly national cricket boards have more control and are more strict on the players and directives and everything would have been much more clear and enforced with clarity compared to IPL clubs that is. So IPL clubs, you know, when the IPL is being staged, I mean the last 10 years, we know how, I mean it's quite a pandemonium, I mean players are there, some players would like to, I mean, be a little lax about what they do after the playing, after matches or between matches and the clubs, private entities as they are, that much of a strict control over the players and their behaviour. Having said that, we are talking about professionals also, so these players coming in hopefully won't be able, I mean, would have learnt their lesson from Joffra Archer and would be serious about the applications if they decide to jump quarantine and all that. And it's happened not just in cricket, by the way, footballers, league action is happening there are many footballers who did that, couple of tennis players in that infamous Djokovic tour, they had a party at Monaco and so these things are happening around and that's one risk that BCCI should take into the IPL governing council and the BCCI as well, should take into consideration so that, I mean, the players are briefed, the teams are briefed also as to the seriousness of the issue and be much more stricter than what they are usually in a normal season of the IPL, that's just the start. Beyond that, logistically, they should have a uniform, I feel that they should have a uniform protocol in place. So what is happening now is that there are some teams which believe that all the players should be convened as training camp in India before and I mean, at least the Indian players and they should be in a controlled environment and then from here get tested, then travel to UAE, then go through the quarantine systems and then start playing. While some teams believe that all the players can directly just convene at the airport and fly out and because anyways, the quarantine will happen in the UAE and test can be done. So that comes with its own risk. The first scenario also comes as its own difficulties to implement. So here the lesson that we should take into consideration is what happened in Pakistan before the travel to, because before the players convened to travel to England. So they were convened, passively everyone came to where the test happened and suddenly like 10-12 people, I mean 10 people have tested positive for COVID-19, out of which 3-4 again tested negative after subsequent testing. So we have, I mean, will the clubs take charge of the situation or should BCCI ensure that they do it, how they do it? It's not easy. It's not as simple as what it's been perceived by the board at the moment as well as the club. So that kind of a set protocol should be in place, otherwise I feel things can go very nasty. And I guess there are also some issues regarding some of the former teams that were there in the competition. There's been a lot of legal battles around it and some of these throw a lot of questions about the structure of the idea in itself. So would you talk a bit about that also? So in between all this talk about salvaging the season and ensuring that their losses are minimal and revenue comes in and all these things, BCCI is the biggest revenue source I think. A small news came out last week that the Mumbai High Court appointed arbitrator for the PCCI versus Deccan Chargers. I mean, we all would remember they were the second season champions, Iderabad-based team predecessor to Sunrises. And they were suddenly terminated from the league in 2012. And there were many, I mean, many, I mean, the situation in which they were terminated was questionable in itself because a 30-day period which is asked by the contract should be given for them to answer or reply to the termination notice. And on the 29th day, apparently, the IPL governing council went ahead and terminated the contract. Anyways, the case was filed and arbitrator now has decided that BCCI should pay a compensation of 48,4800 crore to Deccan Chargers. So this was decided last week, announced last week. So BCCI can of course go for an appeal at the Mumbai High Court first and then high court if needed based on what the decision is. But going by the history of BCCI versus wronged franchises, I mean, it just paints a picture of a business done very haphazardly. So before this, the case that happened was the illegal termination of the premature termination of contract with Kochi Tuskers. That happened in 2011 and subsequently cases were filed and 2017, the arbitrator had decided that the BCCI should compensate Tuskers for the termination. And last year, the accrued interest plus the compensation amount was in the tune of 1,750 crore. And every month, the interest has been rising. BCCI has not shown an inclination towards sorting the issue, maybe find a compromise formula. And of course, they are obliged to pay and legally obliged to play and that waiting game is happening on one side. So this is how, I mean, BCCI runs its business on one side and then they are trying to milk the system and the situation on the other side. So it paints a very bleak picture of the biggest cricket board in the world because as the richest cricket board in the world, the first and foremost thing that they should probably ensure is governments and setting the right precedent as far as financial decisions and financial deals are concerned. So that is missing. And these two episodes are classic cases of that. Again, once the action starts, all these things like Nero did long back, let the games begin and everything will be forgotten. So that's the formula that BCCI and Indian cricket has been following so far. And I guess to make a change to that, it requires probably a effort from our fans as well. Thank you so much, Leslie, for talking to us. Our next story is about the three countries that are ravaged the most by COVID-19, the United States, Brazil and India. These are all in the Million Cases League, with the US having about 3 million cases and Brazil crossing the 2 million mark. What also links these countries is the leadership, Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi, who came to power based on a politics of aggressive polarization. A lot of the same is marked their response to the COVID-19 crisis as well. Here's a video on the big three of COVID-19. Today, three countries lead the global COVID-19 case count, the United States, Brazil and India. These three countries are also currently reporting the highest number of new cases. What links the three countries is the rule of strongmen, Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi. The high number of cases is strongly linked to how each of these leaders has handled the pandemic. Each of these authoritarian leaders has consolidated power on the lines of race and religion and is backed by big capital. Their policies have played a great role in increasing the disparity in the respective countries and attacking people's rights. Yet another commonality is their ignoring of science, promotion of superstition and even outright denial. It has been seven months since the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in China in December last year. China had around 85,000 confirmed cases as well as 4,641 deaths. But they managed to curb the spread of the virus and became corona free by the end of April. The Chinese had to undertake this ordeal under heavy imperialist propaganda and racism. The virus was in fact initially reported by global media as the Wuhan virus. One of the key proponents of this xenophobic rhetoric was the U.S. President Donald Trump COVID. To be specific, COVID-19, that name gets further and further away from China as opposed to calling it the Chinese virus. By the way, it's a disease without question. Has more names than any disease in history. I can name Kung Flu. I can name 19 different versions To date, Trump has been in constant denial of the seriousness of the virus. His counterparts in Brazil and India have taken a similar approach. Jair Bolsonaro, who himself is COVID positive, has time and again been in denial of the virus. He called the virus just a little cold. The world has shown us that the risk group is people over 60 years old. So why close the schools is one of his infamous remarks. He even said that the press is causing panic and hysteria in Brazilian society while reporting on COVID-19. His public stands against lockdown has made his relationship with governors of various states turbulent. As of July 16th, Brazil has more than 1,966,000 confirmed cases, as well as over 75,300 deaths. India has over 968,800 confirmed cases and over 24,900 deaths. The actual numbers may be even higher. Meanwhile, the Modi government has been busy privatizing public sector undertakings, increasing taxes on patrolling products and witch hunting activists. After forcefully retiring staff from various PSUs, the government plans to privatize most of them, including Indian railways. Activists and critics of the government have been put behind bars. In the name of reforms, more austerity has been introduced and farmers and workers' rights are being taken away. Meanwhile, unemployment has soared while COVID-19 related restrictions continue. In the US, while early epicenters like New York City have seen a sharp decline in new cases, other states, like Texas and Florida, are showing a record number of cases. Trump has remained firm in his anti-lockdown stance and has held a series of controversial campaign rallies in hotspot states. Meanwhile, as protests continue against racism in the country, Trump and his allies have taken to statements and media to vilify protesters and encourage heavy criminalization of those arrested. To date, the US still accounts for the largest number of COVID-19 related deaths, with 137,100. And the number is still rising.