The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited all the eight franchises for Indian Premier League‘s governing council meeting as the fate of the tournament hangs by the wire. The meeting is scheduled to take place on March 14 (Saturday) and attended by top brass BCCI officials along with IPL’s governing council member.
The novel coronavirus has halted many global sporting events and is likely to take a grip on the cash-rich franchise-based T20 event scheduled to start from March 29. On March 11 (Wednesday), the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) a pandemic. This has had the forthcoming IPL in jeopardy with a lot of questions still to be answered.
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The main agenda of the meeting is likely to be whether to postpone the tournament or go as per the schedule but behind closed-door. Notably, the ongoing ODI series between India and South Africa are going on empty stadiums along with many other tournaments across the globes.
When asked whether franchises have been invited, sources within the BCCI said: “Yes, we have invited them for the meeting”.
Furthermore, the participation of the overseas cricketers also looks in doubts after a Central Government directive stated that all visas have been cancelled till April 15. It comes as a part of measures to contain the spread of the pandemic which has put IPL’s scheduling in doubt. The Sports Ministry has also asked all National Sports Federations (NSFs), including the BCCI to follow the Health Ministry’s guidelines.
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“Yes, foreign players will not be available. We will discuss this and other issues at our governing council meeting scheduled for March 14,” a source in IPL governing council had told ANI.
IPL 2020 is slated to commence from March 29 with defending champions Mumbai Indians locking horns with Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
