IPL 2022 Suspended Until Further Notice due to Covid-19

HIGHLIGHTS

• Indian cricket board (BCCI) suspends (IPL) 2022 until further notice due to Covid-19.
• The IPL 2022 season was to start late March.
• Major sporting events and leagues take a hit.

On April 16, 2022 the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended the Twenty20 competition for the current year. This comes 2 days after India Prime minister – Narendra Modi – extended the lockdown to 3 May.

According to India lockdown rules, only essential services business remains open such as grocery and pharmacies.

According to a statement from the BCCI, it pointed out of a likely resumption when it was safe and appropriate. However, BCCI didn’t mention specific date or a window when the league will resume. Earlier, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said the weekly evaluation of the situation would guide the cricket body decision.

The competition was to kick off on March 29th. The first match was to be between 2019 final rivals Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians and would have taken place at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

The board’s contingency plans were to have the IPL conducted under closed stadiums and televised. The finals were slated for the first week of June. However, the plan didn’t materialize because of the spike in coronavirus infections.

Signings for the current season remains doubtful amidst expectations of England stars Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, and Eoin Morgan. Other England players who will miss out include Harry Gurney, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Curran, Jason Roy, Chris Jordan, Moeen Ali, and Tom Banton.

India and other government have banned international flights which make it impossible for overseas players to join the competition. This among other factors led to the BCCI calling off the IPL.

This is the second time BCCI called off the event. The previous month, the body announced its decision to postpone the event to April 15th, days before the three-week lockdown.
The IPL is at risk of losing close to ₹10,000 crore in revenues from loss of media rights, gate receipts, franchise revenue, player fees, and sponsorship deals. BCCI will take the largest share of the loss as it is the event organizer. The franchises revenues will be affected too because they rely largely on broadcast rights. Star India record broadcast five-year deal assured each franchise of INR 150 crore, but now remains doubtful.

Since its establishment in 2007, the Twenty-20 has attracted a huge audience and India best betting sites and have attractive odds for the event. The previous 12 editions have all taken place in India except IPL 2009 and IPL 2014. South Africa hosted the IPL 2009 after security concerns in India at that time. Dubai hosted the IPL 2014 because the competition coincided with India general elections.

The Covid-19 has affected sporting events across the globe. Tokyo 2022 Olympics and Euro 2022 are among some of the events that were pushed to 2021. Champions League and Europa League were suspended. Other sporting events affected include Formula 1, NBA, English premier league, and French open to mention a few.

Relevant news