London Mayor Sadiq Khan wants to see Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni playing Indian Premier League games in the capital; Khan says, 'there are big, big cricket fans who are desperate to see IPL in London. Indians love London, London loves India, it's what I call a win-win'
Friday 9 April 2021 16:12, UK
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is hoping to bring Indian Premier League fixtures to the capital in the future.
The IPL returns to India for its 2021 edition this week after last year's event was staged entirely in the United Arab Emirates because of the coronavirus pandemic.
London has previously held NFL, MLB and NBA events in the past and Khan, with the backing of Surrey County Cricket Club, wants IPL matches to follow suit.
He told the Press Association: "I'm really excited to be working with Surrey County Cricket Club and others to try to bring Indian Premier League to London.
"I've seen for myself the benefit of sports to our city; we now have Major League Baseball in our city, we have American football in our city and have got a deal for the NFL to stay for at least 10 years, which is great news.
"I'm really keen to see sport come to London so we can be the undisputed sporting capital of the world.
"I'm keen to see (Virat) Kohli coming to London, not just with the India team this summer but to come with his team: Bangalore. I'd love to see Chennai here with (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni or Mumbai with (Rohit) Sharma.
"We are speaking to the IPL, we are speaking to teams in India, but we're trying to persuade the ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] and others to have the ambition we've got for our city.
"If you're a cricket fan who lives in Europe or North America it's really cheap and easy to come to London, it's one way of bringing tourists back to our city.
"It won't just be London benefiting, if we get the IPL here, we can see matches taking place at Edgbaston in Birmingham or at [Emirates] Old Trafford in Manchester or at [Emerald] Headingley in Leeds.
"There are big, big cricket fans who are desperate to see IPL in London. Indians love London, London loves India, it's what I call a win-win."
Watch the 2021 Indian Premier League live in full on Sky Sports.
