India’s sports minister on Sunday said any decision to allow the Indian Premier League to go ahead this year would be taken by the government, not the Indian cricket board, and would be based on how well the country has contained the novel coronavirus.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said the IPL would go ahead only if there was no risk to public health.
“In India the government has to take a call and it will be depending on the situation of the pandemic, how we progress as a nation,” Rijiju told the India Today television channel.
“We can’t put health of the nation at risk just because we want sporting events to be held. Our focus is fighting COVID-19.”
The BCCI, the richest cricket body in the world, had said it would consider staging the lucrative IPL in October/November if the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Australia during those months, did not go ahead.
The IPL is worth almost $530 million to the 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.
India has reported 131,868 infections from the new coronavirus, with 3,867 deaths.
Meanwhile, bowlers looking at resuming test cricket after the novel coronavirus lockdown will require two to three months of preparation to avoid injuring themselves, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has said.
Cricket, like other global sports, has been suspended since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic but some countries are plotting guidelines for the return of the game as governments start easing lockdown restrictions.
England players returned to individual skill-based training this week with the country hoping to begin their delayed summer of cricket with a test series against West Indies in July.
Pakistan are scheduled to tour England to play three tests in August followed by an equal number of Twenty20 Internationals, with the matches taking place behind closed doors as part of measures to combat COVID-19.
“Bowlers are at a particularly high risk of injury on return to play after a period of enforced time-out,” the world governing body ICC said in its back-to-cricket guidelines released late on Friday.
The ICC advised teams to use larger squads and exercise caution over bowlers’ workloads, saying test cricket would require a minimum of eight to 12 week preparation with the final four-five weeks involving match intensity bowling.
Preparation time of six weeks was recommended for bowlers returning to the shorter 50-over and Twenty20 internationals.
The ICC advised its member boards to consider appointing a medical advisor or bio-safety official to help with planning for a safe return to training and competition. The Dubai-based ICC this week announced a ban on using saliva to shine a cricket ball to try and achieve the fabled ‘reverse swing’.
Players and umpires would need to maintain social distancing and cricketers must avoid unnecessary body contact and not hand over items like cap, towels, sunglasses to umpires or team mates, the ICC said.
