Mumbai: The lockdown in India was on Tuesday extended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi till May 3 after the initial 21-day lockdown to fight the coronavirus outbreak came to an end. With an eye to fight the pandemic, the PM announced that it was important to continue to stay indoors and maintain social distancing and IPL franchise Mumbai Indians took to social media to promote the same.
Taking to Twitter, Mumbai Indians posted: “Stay in. Stay safe. You’ve done well so far. Gear up and keep batting from your crease till 3rd May. #OneFamily @ImRo45.”
Sporting events across the globe have either been cancelled or suspended due to the pandemic and even the fate of the 13th edition of the IPL hangs in balance as the lockdown has meant that there can be no movement whatsoever and even a question of a closed-door IPL doesn’t arise.
While sources in the know of developments have already told IANS that the BCCI is looking at the option of having the cash-rich league in the October-November window, it will also need the ICC World T20 to be postponed for the Indian board to get the window.
For now, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly in a recent interview made it clear that the conditions weren’t suitable to even think about hosting the IPL.
“We keep monitoring developments. At the present moment, we can’t say anything. And what is there to say anyway? Airports are shut, people are stuck at home, offices are locked down, nobody can go anywhere. And it seems this is how it’s going to be till the middle of May,” said Ganguly.
“Where will you get players from, where do players travel. It’s just simple common sense that at the moment, nothing is in favour of any kind of sport anywhere in the world, forget IPL.”
