The 13th edition of Indian Premier League, scheduled to start on 29 March, has been suspended till 15 April in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed on Friday.
The board said the decision was taken as a precautionary measure. “The BCCI is concerned and sensitive about all its stakeholders, and public health in general, and it is taking all necessary steps to ensure that, all people related to IPL including fans have a safe cricketing experience,” secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
“The BCCI will work closely with the Government of India along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and all other relevant Central and State Government departments in this regard.”
It is worth noting that the government had issued fresh advisory with a ban on all existing foreign visas, except a few categories like diplomatic and employment, till April 15 in the wake of new positive cases of novel coronavirus in the country.
India reported its first coronavirus death late on Thursday after samples of a 76-year-old man, who was a suspected COVID-19 patient and died on March 10, tested positive for the disease. There are at least 75 confirmed cases of coronavirus in India.
Coronavirus has spread to 100 countries, infecting 1.27 lakh people and killing 4,717. The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the outbreak a pandemic. China had on Thursday declared that the peak of the coronavirus outbreak had passed in the country after new cases in Hubei fell to single digits for the first time. But in recent weeks, a vast majority of new cases have been reported from outside China.
The BCCI decision came hours after Delhi government said it will not allow any sporting activity in the national capital due to the health crisis. The city is home to the Delhi Capitals IPL franchise.
On Thursday, after the first ODI between India and South Africa was washed out in Dharamasala, the BCCI had confirmed that the second and third matches in the series were to be played without fans. The matches are scheduled to be held in Lucknow and Kolkata and will now be behind-closed-doors affairs.
The IPL could also still be a closed-door affair owing to the global crisis, which has caused close to 5,000 deaths, reported PTI. Several sporting events internationally and in India have been postponed or cancelled due to the travel restrictions that the spread of the virus has triggered all across.
