The under-pressure BCCI on Friday suspended the start of this year’s IPL from March 29 to April 15 in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused massive upheaval across the globe.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hasdecided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measureagainst the ongoing Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) situation,” BCCIsecretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
This came hours after Delhi government suspended allsporting activity in the national capital due to the ever-growing healthcrisis. Delhi is home to the Delhi Capitals IPL franchise.
In his first reactions post the suspension of the cash-richleague that has a lot riding on it, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said safetyis the “first priority”.
“First priority is safety, so we postponed thegames,” Ganguly said.
“We will see what happens. It is too early toanswer,” the former India captain added when asked if there will be moredouble headers if they are able to host it from April 15.
The BCCI statement made it clear that it’s”suspension” and “not postponement” which means that thereis no clarity on whether the event will start on April 15.
Even if it starts on April 15, it is expected to happenbehind closed doors without the fans.
The BCCI will discuss all the modalities of this year’sedition at the IPL Governing Council meeting in Mumbai on Saturday.
“The BCCI is concerned and sensitive about all itsstakeholders, and public health in general, and it is taking all necessarysteps to ensure that, all people related to IPL including fans have a safecricketing experience,” Shah stated.
“The BCCI will work closely with the Government ofIndia along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare and all other relevant Central and State Governmentdepartments in this regard,” he added.
There is a possibility that the tournament will feature moredouble-headers than previously planned and at least five optional venues arebeing kept ready after state governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhirefused permission for the games.
“The only option left was postponement of thetournament till the visa ban is lifted (April 15). All the franchises have madeit clear that there is no point of an IPL without foreign recruits,” asenior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
“In any case, foreign players with Business (B2) visaare not in exempted category. The second reason is that three state governmentshave decided against having IPL games. So, there are logistical issues thatneed to be sorted.
“We need some time to figure that out,” theofficial said.The IPL wasoriginally scheduled to start on March 29 and end on May 24 making it a 56-dayaffair.