With the Covid-19 outbreak creating havoc by the day, it is highly unlikely that the Indian Premier League can be held this year. Though there has been no official word from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the writing on the wall is getting clearer, with more than a hundred fresh cases reported on Sunday, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases in India past the thousand mark.
The BCCI had postponed the tournament from March 29 to April 15. There are still more than 15 days to go but the IPL teams are resigned to the possibility that the event may be cancelled this season. There has been no Governing Council meeting as well and according to sources they are not even looking to discuss the topic till close to the deadline. Two of the teams HT spoke to confirmed that no discussion has taken place yet.
it has been learned that the 13th season is set to be cancelled in the aftermath of the pandemic. The COVID-19 death toll in India has risen to 27 and over 1,000 infected cases have been registered as of Sunday. India is observing a 21-day total lockdown and the nation also had to suspend all foreign visas until April 15 in the wake of the pandemic. With the virus strengthening its grip in India and the infected cases along with fatalities only increasing each passing, many have feared that the cancellation of the IPL 2020 can be on cards.
The BCCI will officially call off the tournament after the Indian government makes the next announcement on travel and visa restrictions.
The IPL was supposed to originally hold the final on May 24. While no bilateral series of any major teams were scheduled in the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme from the first week of April till the fourth week of May (Bangladesh were supposed to play Ireland in May-end), the situation changes after that.
From the first week of June, West Indies, Sri Lanka, England and South Africa players will have national commitments. By the third week, New Zealand and Australia will have their respective assignments. All the teams have significant representations in the IPL.
Even India are supposed to play Sri Lanka from the fourth week of June for a three-ODI and three-T20 series.
