IPL 2019 | Pakistan minister claims IPL telecast ban is ‘loss for Indian cricket’

The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League is scheduled to kick-off on Saturday as defending champions Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni take on Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chepauk, Chennai. While the entire world will be glued to their television sets to watch the IPL, cricket fans in Pakistan will be deprived of the same after Pakistan’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry stated that there will be a ban on the telecast of IPL in his nation for the entirety of the tournament.

“During the PSL, the way the Indian companies and the government treated Pakistan cricket... after that, we can’t tolerate that IPL is shown in Pakistan. We tried to keep politics and cricket apart but then the Indian cricket team played matches wearing army caps against Australia. There was no action taken against that. I feel if IPL is not shown in Pakistan it will be a loss for IPL and Indian cricket. We are a cricketing superpower in international cricket,” Chaudhry told a Pakistan news channel.

This decision was taken after the telecast of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2019 was stopped in India by the official broadcasters in the wake of the dastardly Pulwama attack on February 14 in Jammu & Kashmir that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans. The 2019 season of the IPL will be held from March 23 to May 4. The schedule was released in parts by the BCCI due to the general elections which will be held during a similar time frame. The final group match will be played between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders on May 5.