As the coronavirus epidemic turns catastrophic around the world and with India experiencing a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has put the review meeting on discussions of possibilities of hosting the 13th edition of Indian Premier League off the charts for now.
Initially, the organizers decided to postpone the tournament till 15th April. But at a time when the country is facing such a critical situation with all the major states and cities under lockdown, the franchise executive admitted that nobody is thinking about the execution of the tournament in the current scenario. In fact, the BCCI chief, Sourav Ganguly has also hinted that the tournament is very likely to get canceled. Although, the final word on this matter is awaited until the second week of April. The next review meeting is to be held on 24th March.
Given the current scenario, the possibility of conducting the IPL in the July-September also seems unfeasible. Because at the moment, the foremost matter is curbing the spread of coronavirus infection.
India is presently, in no condition to plan any sports event until the matter of the pandemic comes to a standstill. Even if it does shifts the date of the tournament further, its highly likely that foreign players would not be playing any matches because of the current travel policies of countries across the world. Even the Olympics are on the verge of getting canceled as countries like Australia and Canada refused to send their teams for the Olympics and Paralympics Games to be held in Tokyo this year.
India is now in Stage 2 of the pandemic and if the number of cases continues to mount up, there is no possibility of holding any matches. Similar to China, India is considering that if the situation worsens, it would have to turn the stadiums into temporary hospitals.
