Reports | BCCI’s scheduled conference call with IPL franchises called off

On Tuesday, March 24, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were scheduled to arrange a conference call with all eight franchise owners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to decide the future of the tournament, that had already been pushed to April 15 owing to growing concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, according to a Times of India report, the call between the BCCI and the franchise owners has apparently been called off, with the country nearly being in complete lockdown, with even Section-144 imposed in several states and districts, in order to curtail the spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus. 

While the call has been cancelled, the board is yet to make an official announcement as to whether the meeting has been rescheduled to a later date or completely called off for the time being. According to sources in the know, especially given the strict government restrictions on foreign visas, the organizers are almost certain that the 2020 edition of the IPL will be called off, but are hoping against hope that there will be a slightest opportunity to organize the tournament. 

"If Olympics can be postponed by a year, IPL is a much smaller entity in that regard. It is becoming increasingly difficult to organise. At this point the government is not even thinking about allowing foreign visas," a BCCI official in know of things told Times of India.

The Indian government, earlier this week, announced that it will also be shutting down all domestic flights in the wake of increasing Covid-19 cases in the country, with the overall tally of infected people close to 500 as of Tuesday morning.