The pandemic coronavirus has had a massive impact on human life across the globe. With no signs of improvement, the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been postponed until April 15 in the wake of COVID-19 which was scheduled to start from March 29.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in no mood to give up on its hopes of conducting the IPL and is reportedly planning to stage the tournament in July-September if things do not improve in the coming days. Until Saturday, playing a truncated league within a delayed, shortened window looked like the designated ‘Plan B’. But according to the TOI, the BCCI does not want to conduct a truncated IPL.
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While things still look doomy, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has cleared that the fate of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) can be decided only after the government comes out with a fresh advisory after April 15, keeping in mind the situation with regards to the coronavirus outbreak.
“After April 15 the government will come up with new advisory and guidelines according to the situation. BCCI is a body that looks after cricket which is not an Olympic sport. But here it is not the question of the sporting event alone but a question of the safety of the citizens. In an event, there will be thousands of spectators. So it is not just for the sports bodies or sportspersons it is for every citizen of the country,” Rijiju said.
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Meanwhile, apart from IPL, many sporting events have been called off. BCCI also called off the ODI series against South Africa while England returned to the country without playing the two Tests. Furthermore, New Zealand cricketers also went back to the country leaving the series against Australia midway and finally Pakistan Super League also stands cancelled of now.
