Will IPL skip corona year?
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced that the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 has been suspended till April 15, amid coronavirus outbreak. The 13th edition of the cash-rich domestic league was scheduled to be held from March 29.
However, the board decided to postpone the tournament in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID 19). The confirmed cases of coronavirus have climbed in India to 84 while there have been over 149,271 confirmed cases across the world. A sudden rise in the cases has forced the suspension and the cancellation of several major sporting events in an order to avoid the mass gathering.
The matches of IPL 2020 were set to be held across the nine cities in the country. Though the BCCI has decided to postpone the event, there are still clouds of uncertainties looming large over the future of IPL 2020. As per the sources, the T20 tournament might get deferred until the next year if the deadline is missed this year. According to the information, April 20 is the deadline for the start of the IPL 2020.
Meanwhile, the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly was quoted by news agency ANI as saying: "We are monitoring the situation and it will be reassessed every week. As much as we want to host IPL, we are also concerned about the safety of the people."
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A meeting was held between the BCCI officials and the owners of all the eight IPL franchises where several options were discussed about the future of IPL 2020, on Saturday. In the meanwhile, the board and the franchises have discussed the idea of playing matches behind the closed doors and shortening the duration of the league.
-PTC News
