New Delhi: The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 was postponed indefinitely after at least four of the eight franchises reported positive Covid-19 cases of players/officials and “weren’t that keen on continuing”, leaving the Indian cricket board with no option but to stop it amid rapidly escalating pandemic in the country.
At least half of the eight franchises — Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and Delhi Capitals (DC) – had confirmed that players/officials have tested positive.
A red-faced Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has been staunchly defending the IPL’s continuation as the country reeled under the Covid-19 massive onslaught, was left with no option but to postpone it when the teams got impacted.
The postponement of the IPL at the halfway stage – 29 of the 60 matches were played — may have a big impact on the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played in India in October-November. The United Arab Emirates is the alternate venue for the T20 World Cup.
The BCCI is now facing the pressure of looking for a window after a few of the franchises on Tuesday expressed their unwillingness to continue playing the tournament.
The BCCI had to call off the IPL on Tuesday after it emerged SRH’s Wriddhiman Saha in Delhi and DC’s Amit Mishra in Ahmedabad tested positive. Michael Hussey, a member of the CSK coaching staff, also reportedly tested positive twice on Tuesday in Delhi.
On Monday, CSK bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji and a member of the “travel support staff” and KKR bowlers Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier had tested positive along with a few members of the ground staff at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
That forced three teams — KKR, CSK and DC — to go into isolation. However, more positive cases on Tuesday and SRH also getting affected made it impossible for the league to continue.
BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla said that some franchises were not keen on playing after the deadly virus penetrated the supposedly secure IPL bio-bubble.
While the IPL teams unaffected by the Covid-19 have already started leaving or, in some cases, are prepared to leave the bio-bubble in a day or two, the affected teams have to be cautious.
The IPL won’t be able to resume anytime soon, as a window for it is likely to be an issue.
The BCCI finally admitted that these are indeed “difficult times”.
