'IPL 2020 suspended till further notice, to commence only when safe': BCCI confirms

Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of Coronavirus lockdown, the BCCI has formally suspended the 13th edition of the IPL on Thursday until further notice. In a media advisory issued by the board, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah stated that the IPL Governing Council of the BCCI has decided that the IPL 2020 Season will be suspended and will only commence when it is safe and appropriate to do so. 

"BCCI will continue to monitor and review the situation regarding a potential start date in close partnership with all of its stakeholders and will continue to take guidance from the Government of India, State Governments and other State Regulatory bodies," said BCCI. The season which was set to commence on March 29 was earlier deferred to April 15 with the rising number of cases. 

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Speaking to a leading news daily, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had earlier stated that the BCCI has constantly been monitoring all developments. Ganguly added that nothing could be said at present since everything is shut including airports and offices. He speculated that this could all go on till mid-May. The former Indian skipper also said that it's just simple common sense that at the moment, nothing is in favour of any kind of sport anywhere in the world, forget IPL.

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Impact of COVID-19 on sporting events

All the major sporting events have either been postponed or cancelled due to the global pandemic. Big global events like the UEFA Euro Cup 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed to the summer of 2021 while the showpiece event of tennis world i.e. the Wimbledon 2020 has been cancelled for the first time since World War II.

Coming back to cricket, the semi-final and final matches of the ongoing edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) have been postponed as well. The bilateral ODI series between India and South Africa will also be rescheduled at a later date whereas uncertainty looms over the upcoming tour of India to Australia which is much later this year.

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