The Board of Control for Cricket in India suspends all the major minor domestic cricket tournaments including Irani Cup owing to the deadly and widespread coronavirus pandemic.
The Irani Cup, which is the season-ender domestic tournament, was scheduled to be commencing on March 18. However, in the latest press release, the BCCI said:
“In view of the ongoing Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) outbreak, the BCCI on Saturday announced that all matches of the Paytm Irani Cup, Senior Women’s One-Day Knockout, Vizzy Trophy, Senior Women’s One-Day Challenger, Women’s Under 19 One-Day knockout, Women’s Under 19 T20 League, Super League and knockout, Women’s Under 19 T20 Challenger Trophy, Women’s Under 23 knockout, Women’s Under 23 One-Day Challenger have been put on hold till further notice.”
Prior to suspending the domestic matches, The board had earlier suspended India’s ODI series against South Africa and the Cash-rich tournament- Indian Premier League.
The BCCI on Friday also determined to reschedule the remaining two matches of the one-day international series against South Africa. As a result of this decision, the two matches scheduled to be played in Lucknow and Kolkata now stand void.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday announced to reschedule the ongoing ODI series in view of the Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) outbreak. Cricket South Africa will visit India at a later date to play 3 One-day Internationals. The BCCI-CSA will jointly work out the revised schedule,” BCCI informed through an official mail.
The decision to postpone the Indian Premier league to April 15 came into existence amid the increasing threat and severity of coronavirus pandemic. The first ODI which was supposed to be held at Dharamsala was canceled due to rain without even the toss taking place. The second match of the series was scheduled to be played at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday and the final match was to be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.
