Indian Premier League suspended indefinitely as Covid-19 hits cricket season

The Daily Star’s FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox

The Indian Premier League has been suspended indefinitely as Covid-19 has hit the cricket competition.

The country has been hit hard with numbers of positive cases soaring over the last two weeks, with one flight carrying 52 people with the virus.

It brought risks that the top cricket tournament in the country, which started at the beginning of April and saw 29 matches take place.

But organisers have now confirmed that the IPL has been suspended indefinitely after three positive cases emerged in the last two fixtures.

A statement from BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shuka reads: "The IPL has been suspended for time being. We spoke to everyone from teams, broadcasters and all those who were involved in it.

"It was decided to defer the IPL especially looking at the sentiment and current situation in the country.

"For us players health is paramount and BCCI will always keeps safety first.

"We will meet again soon and decide when we can conclude this edition, we will have to see when is the next window available."

A positive case was picked up in Kolkata Knight Riders' side with Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier both testing for it on Monday.

And this led to their IPL fixture against Royal Challengers Gabgalore get postponed.

A positive test for Chennai Super Kings' coach L Balaji also put the whole squad into quarantine.

The BCCI then confirmed the following day that Wednesday's game for the side against Rajasthan Royals would be rescheduled.

But the IPL chaos continued when Wriddhiman Saha and Amit Mishra tested positive for Covid-19.

Top trending sport stories right now

  • Ebanie Bridges' gruesome eye injury
  • McGregor's net worth amid Man Utd offer
  • Ben Askren's spat before Jake Paul KO
  • Inside Lewis Hamilton's weight problems

    • Pressure has been growing on IPL organisers to suspend the seasons as overseas players including Australian star Kane Richardson and England's Liam Livingstone withdrew.

    It led to teams putting pressure on the BCCI, saying via Times of India: "You can host it after three months, five months, six months. It doesn’t matter. But right now, it needs to stop.

    "And now, the overseas players too want to go home. They’re clear they can’t take this anymore. And it’s understandable why they’re thinking that way."

    READ MORE:Two new mutant Covid strains from India found in UK as disease ravages country

    READ MORE:Gary Lineker misses PSG vs Man City coverage on BT Sport due to Covid scare

    • Cricket

    Source: Read Full Article