Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju makes a huge statement on IPL 2020; read details

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has made a huge statement with regard to the decision in conducting the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The 13th edition of the tournament which was supposed to get underway on March 29 has been postponed to April 15 due to the outbreak of the dangerous COVID-19 which has spread all over the world. Due to coronavirus fear, many of the global sporting events have either been called off or postponed. 

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'After April 15':  Kiren Rijiju

Meanwhile, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has recently said that after April 15, the government will come up with new advisory and guidelines according to the situation and that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)  is a body that looks after cricket which is not an Olympic sport. At the same time, Rijiju also mentioned that in this case, it is not the question of the sporting event alone but a question of the safety of the citizens as in such an event there will be thousands of spectators.  Kiren Rijiju also added that it is not just for the sports bodies or sportspersons but for every citizen of the country.

The three-match bilateral ODI series between India and South Africa have also been rescheduled at a later date. The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had last week said that the IPL will take place but there is also a possibility of it being a truncated one. Ganguly also said that a weekly reassessment will be done on the same. Coming back to BCCI, its Mumbai office has been shut down with effect from Tuesday and all the employees have been asked to work from home. Other than the IPL, the semi-final matches of the ongoing edition of the PSL have also been postponed. 

Even other major sporting tournaments have been cancelled due to coronavirus fears. The Euro Cup 2020 will now be held in the summer of 2021 while the French Open which is also known 'Roland Garros' will now be played from September 20 to October 4, 2020.  It was originally supposed to be held from May 24-June 7. 

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