After a plea was filed in the Madras High Court to stop the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Madras High Court has now asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to reply to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by 23 March 2020. The same has been confirmed in a tweet by news agency ANI.
“As on date, as per the website of the World Health Organisation, there was no specific medicine or to prevent or to treat the COVID-19,” the petitioner advocate G Alex Benziger had said as quoted by PTI.
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 as per the records show that as many as sixty-seven people in the country have tested positive for the virus.
However, despite all such actions taken by the Indian government, there has not been any official word from the cricket governing body in India on whether the tournament will be cancelled, postponed or played behind closed doors.
In fact, BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly had earlier gone on record claiming that IPL will go on as planned and steps will be taken to prevent the spread of the virus.
It is worth highlighting that many other sporting events across the world have been affected by COVID-19. Italy’s Serie A matches have been suspended at least till 3 April. Earlier events like Qatar MotoGP, Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament had also been postponed.
Among the most followed sports events worldwide, Euro 2020 and Tokyo Olympics 2020 have also been threatened but till now they have not been rescheduled.
Meanwhile, La Liga also confirmed that matches will be played in empty stadiums for at least two weeks.
Given the scenario, it remains to be seen whether the Indian Premier League goes on as per schedule.