IPL suspended for one week, PCB postpones PSL games

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.”

Thursday’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.

With the airport in Dharamshala and other north Indian cities closed, the players and support staff members of both PBKS and DC, along with match officials, commentators, broadcast crew members and other key IPL-related personnel were evacuated.

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.

With the BCCI saying IPL 2025 has been suspended for one week, it is yet to be known if an alternate window to host the rest of the tournament will be present immediately or not and what would be the venues of the remaining games.

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.

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 UAE.

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.”

Earlier, the PCB had, in a late-night meeting, decided to relocate the eight matches to Dubai because the foreign players were adamant on leaving Pakistan.

The tenth edition of the PSL Involved 37 foreign players including from England, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies and South Africa.

Most of the foreign players wanted to leave Pakistan after a drone fell adjacent to Rawalpindi cricket stadium where a match on Wednesday was cancelled.

The top-notch players included former Australian opener David Warner, former West Indian skipper Jason Holder and New Zealand’s current white-ball captain Michael Bracewell.

There were eight matches remaining in the six-team PSL, including the play-offs and the final scheduled for May 18.

Agencies