By Amlan Chakraborty
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -The Indian Premier League was suspended for one week on Friday while the Pakistan Super League postponed its remaining matches in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to suspend the remainder of the ongoing IPL 2025 with immediate effect for one week,” secretary Devajit Saikia said in a statement on Friday.
The IPL governing council consulted the franchises and players and “considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders”, he said.
“While cricket remains a national passion, there is nothing greater than the nation and its sovereignty, integrity, and security of our country,” Saikia added.
“The BCCI remains firmly committed to support all efforts that safeguard India and will always align its decisions in the best interest of the nation.”
Asked if players and support staff from abroad had been given the option to return home if they felt uncomfortable, BCCI secretary Saikia told Reuters: “That’s not our domain. It’s for the individual franchises to decide what they want to do with their foreign recruits.”
Friday’s IPL match in Dharamsala was abandoned midway through, with organisers citing a power outage, while Sunday’s game at the same north Indian city was shifted to Ahmedabad because of the border tension.
The two countries have clashed since India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were “terrorist camps” in retaliation for a deadly attack in its troubled region of Kashmir last month, in which it said Islamabad was involved.
Pakistan denied the accusation but both countries have exchanged cross-border firing and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other’s airspace since then, with nearly four dozen people dying in the violence.
The IPL still has 12 group matches left, which are due to be followed by the playoffs culminating in the May 25 final in Kolkata.
New dates and venues for the remaining matches will be declared “in due course”, said Saikia.
PSL POSTPONED
The conflict took its toll on the other side of the border as well with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) initially deciding to move the last eight PSL games to the United Arab Emirates.
However, later on Friday, the PCB said it had postponed the matches on the advice of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, adding that cricket “must take a respectful pause” amid the conflict.
“The PCB recognises the efforts and support of its partners, franchises, participating players, broadcasters, sponsors, and organizers in having ensured the smooth conduct of the tournament thus far,” it said.
“We, at the PCB, also have sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty; additional reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Peter Rutherford, Ken Ferris and Toby Davis)
