Coronavirus impact: Will IPL 2020 be played in empty stadiums?

There is uncertainty whether this year’s edition of the cash-rich Indian Premium League T20- tournament, scheduled to be held between March 29 and May 24, will be held following the filing of a PIL in Madras High Court on Tuesday seeking its cancellation, just 2 days after the Maharashtra Health Minister confirmed that discussions were on in the government on whether to postpone the IPL due to the growing number of coronavirus cases in India.

The PIL, filed by advocate G Alex Benziger, is likely to come up before a division bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Krishnan Ramaswamy on March 12. "As on date, as per the website of the World Health Organisation, there was no specific medicine or to prevent or to treat the COVID-19," the petitioner said.

According to the petitioner, coronavirus was spreading all over the world rapidly and creating a huge epidemic disaster. The petitioner said he had sent a representation to authorities not to allow the BCCI conduct IPL T20 cricket matches. He moved the court as there was no response, the petitioner added.

"There is always a danger of spread (of contagious diseases) when people gather in large numbers. Such events can always be organised later. So discussion is on whether to postpone the IPL," Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters. The Maharashtra Health Ministry released the statement on Monday saying "15 people are under observation while 258 have been discharged. Not a single person has been found positive for coronavirus infection in the state, as of now."

Karnataka Medical Education minister K. Sudhakar too has written a letter to the Centre seeking advice on what needs to be done about the IPL matches that will be played in Bengaluru.

"I have written to the Centre saying there are IPL matches scheduled to be held in Karnataka, and that Maharashtra has already taken a decision in this regard. We have asked for the Centre’s guidance on what action we should take," the minister, K. Sudhakar said.

Most of the IPL matches will be played in 7 of the affected states in India over the course of two months, starting with the opener between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede stadium on March 29.

However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is determined to hold the IPL as scheduled, with its president Sourav Ganguly confirming that the tournament will not be postponed and all necessary precautions will be taken by the board, as per media reports.

"It's on...and BCCI will take all protection (against coronavirus)," Ganguly reportedly said when asked how the board was dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.

There have been suggestions about holding the IPL behind closed doors as the matches will be available on television as well as streamed live on digital platforms.

However, a senior BCCI official said that having the IPL behind closed doors is not an option.

More than 50 people have been contracted the virus in India with Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Ladakh being the states affected so far.

The developments led senior journalist Shekhar Gupta to take to Twitter to post: ‘A fortnight left for IPL. BCCI is nuts to want to hold it on schedule. Govts are restricting travel, academic conferences & summits are being put off, Univs, incl Harvard, are sending students home. If BCCI is delusional, Health Min shd give them a knick on the heads...’

This led former quizmaster Siddhartha Basu to quip in response: ‘I gather they'd be ok to play it even in empty stadia, if it comes to that. As long as it's telecast’

Shekhar Gupta responded to this with another post: ‘Sport is played for and with fans. Why don’t they then get canned applause, tamasha and crowd-visuals! To hold a big event like this without spectators is an obscenity and arrogant in the extreme. Plus, the travels of the teams, staff and interactions...’