The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may be mulling the possibility of organising the biggest and the richest cricketing league in the world- the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020- behind closed doors because of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The same has been hinted at in reports carried by news agency IANS as well as NDTV.
In fact, Union Sports Minister Radhey Shyam Julaniya has told IANS that if at all a sports event cannot be cancelled or postponed, it should be organised in a way that prevents mass gathering.
“All national federations, including the BCCI, have been told to adhere to the guidelines and advisory issued by the ministry of health and public welfare. We have also told them to avoid any public gathering and if a sporting event has to be organised, it should be done without gathering of people,” Julaniya was quoted as saying by IANS.
“It is the state government who has to manage the crowd and who have the power under the epidemic diseases act (Epidemic Act of 1897). If it is unavoidable and it has to be organised, then they should do it without collecting the crowd,” he added.
Reports further claim that a BCCI source has gone on record suggesting that the decision of the central government would be adhered in this regard.
Earlier on Thursday, the Indian government suspended all visas till 15 April due to the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the last couple of weeks. The latest data reveal that as many as seventy-three people in the country have tested positive for the virus.
Despite the alarming number of COVID-19 positive cases and the World Health Organization (WHO) classifying it as a pandemic, the BCCI has not called off or postponed the IPL so far.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had earlier suggested that the tournament will roll out as planned with proper precautions at place but the chances of even that happening seem very bleak at the moment.