Dr KK Aggarwal
President CMAAO, HCFI and Past national President IMA
We wrote to the PM and BCCI, also asked to be postponed. The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will not begin on March 29 as per the existing schedule. The tournament is being postponed to April 15th.
The postponement will allow them to see if the threat of the virus ceases any time soon, remains in control, or gets worse. Depending on these scenarios and what the central and state governments say, a further call can be taken.
At this moment, if overseas players have to arrive in India to participate in the IPL, their visas are either still being processed, pending for lack of necessary permissions, for a better understanding of existing travel routes or being rejected for now.
Remember, the IPL cannot be held without overseas players. That’s a condition every franchise will put on paper regardless of anything else.
The IPL will be played behind closed doors, to empty stands. The order from the central sports ministry on the matter stands.
In such a scenario, the BCCI will have two things in mind: A) Change the format of the league, like they have done in the past, to fit into a smaller window; B) Conduct the league within two to three venues so that unnecessary travel can be curbed.
Certain states, Delhi for instance, have already announced that they will not allow the hosting of IPL in the present scenario. More states are likely to follow suit if the crisis continues.
