The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced that the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League has been postponed indefinitely due to the extension of the lockdown in India due to coronavirus.
The IPL was initially scheduled to start from March 29 with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in the opening game. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of the tournament till April 15 with the Indian government announcing the nation-wide lockdown.
The Indian government on Tuesday extended the lockdown till May 3, which now casts a shadow of doubt on the cash-rich league to even take place this year. As of now, the BCCI has postponed the cash-rich league until further notice and there are still no assertions that the September-October window would be considered at that time for conducting the tournament if the situation becomes better.
The BCCI has officially informed all the IPL franchises about the postponed as reported by the PTI.
“Yes, the BCCI has intimated us that IPL has been postponed for the time being but they are hopeful of finding a window later this year as and when things normalise. You can’t plan anything. The FTP is scheduled. It’s there and you can’t change the FTP. All around the world, cricket and more so sports have stopped,” one of the franchise officials told PTI.
Earlier, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had already ruled out the chances of holding the tournament amid the coronavirus crisis in the country.
Not just the IPL, several other major sporting events have been postponed due to the coronavirus globally. Tokyo Olympics has been moved to July next year while Wimbledon tournament has been called off this year.
Many cricket series has also been halted while the World Test Championship has also been left affected by the coronavirus lockdown.
