Manish Sisodhia, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister has declared that no sporting events will happen in Delhi. He has confirmed that the 13th season of Indian Premier League(IPL) will also not happen due to the coronavirus outbreak in India. A press conference was held today morning where Sisiodhia said that preventive measures are taken to avoid the pandemic coronavirus spread.
Speaking to the press conference, Sisodia said, "We have decided to ban any sports activity where people will gather in huge numbers like the IPL. Social distancing is important to curb the breakout of coronavirus."
The Arun Jaitley cricket stadium is the home ground of the IPL team "Delhi Capitals" and seven matches have been scheduled to play in this ground. Yesterday, the BCCI said that there is a possibility that the matches could be held behind closed doors. The Sports Ministry has also advised the BCCI to avoid large gatherings and said that it is up to the board to decide whether to call off the tournament or not.
The central government has canceled all the visas to foreigners till April 15. So there is a high possibility that the BCCI may cancel the IPL matches since there are very few chances of postponing it since it involves various foreign players.
The eight teams have said that they are okay with the matches being held in closed doors but they want their foreign players to play the matches.