IPL suspended indefinitely amid rising India-Pakistan tensions: Source
India's cricket board has decided to suspend the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 tournament amid rising tensions with Pakistan, Indian news agency PTI cited a BCCI official on Friday.
The suspension will come as a major setback for a Reliance-Disney joint venture which has broadcast rights for the matches, and also scores of companies who have committed millions of dollars for advertising.
After striking the $8.5-billion media merger with Walt Disney last year, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance was targeting small businesses and promoting unconventional neuroscience studies to boost its revenues from the IPL.
The Indian Cricket Board BCCI considered various factors including hostilities between India and Pakistan, the security of international and Indian players, and the perception of entertainment and sports activities at this point, as cited from the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because this information is not officially released.
"The idea is very clear - it is not appropriate at this time to continue the IPL," a source told Reuters.
Thursday’s IPL match was abandoned midway after fighting began in India’s border regions; however the cricket board attributed the interruption to a power cut to the stadium in the hill city of Dharamsala.
The Season 16 of the IPL is the most prized cricket tournament hung on the 22nd March to 25 May which is structured to be held over 13 venues across the country.
The conflict has affected the sport in Pakistan and on Friday the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that the remaining matches of HBL PSL X have been moved to the UAE. The last eight matches which were to be held in Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore are now going to be held in the Gulf region.
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