The BCCI will be under immense pressure as Indian Premier League cancellation seems imminent after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the BCCI had earlier this month postponed the IPL to April 15, it had said that hosting the tournament would only come into the picture if the pandemic situation improves.
Since then, however, it has only escalated with cases rising toward India’s 500-mark.
Bearing in mind the bleak situation, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had not much to say.
Ganguly said, “I can’t say anything at the moment. We are at the same place where we were on the day we postponed. Nothing has changed in the last 10 days. So, I don’t have an answer to it. Status quo remains.”
The star-studded eight-team league was originally scheduled to begin in Mumbai on March 29. It seems that the BCCI is deferring the announcement trying to change things against expectations.
The conference of BCCI officials and team owners on Tuesday was postponed IPL as the COVID-19 cases continue to grow in the country and around the world.
A BCCI official said, “If Olympics can be postponed by a year, IPL is a much smaller entity in that regard. It is becoming increasingly difficult to organize. At this point, the government is not even thinking about allowing foreign visas.”
Every stakeholder is currently negotiating ways with insurance firms as well as broadcasters to minimize the financial harm.