New Delhi: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said any decision to allow the Indian Premier League (IPL) to go ahead this year would be taken by the government, not by the Indian cricket board, and added it would be based on how well the country contains the coronavirus.
Rijiju said the 13th edition of IPL would go ahead only if there is no risk to public health. In India, the government has to take a call and it will depend on the situation of the pandemic, how we progress as a nation, Rijiju told India Today TV.
We can’t put the health of the nation at risk just because we want sporting events to be held. Our focus is fighting COVID-19.” The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had said it would consider staging IPL in October-November if the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Australia during those months, does not go ahead.
IPL is worth almost $530 million to BCCI and attracts the best international and Indian cricketers. It was scheduled to start at the end of March, but was indefinitely postponed because of the pandemic.