Following the outbreak of global coronavirus and the discovery of four cases in the state, the Karnataka government wrote to the Center seeking advice on whether matches should be conducted in its capital Bengaluru or not.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise is scheduled to play their first home match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on 31st March. RCB is set to play seven home matches, which will last until 17th May.
Minister of medical education for Karnataka, K. Sudhakar said, “I have already written to the Center that IPL matches are scheduled to take place in Karnataka and that Maharashtra has already taken a decision on this. We have asked the Centre as to how we should be going about this to avoid any kind of problems.”
“We will also take into account what decision the Maharashtra government takes in this regard,” said Jawaid Akhtar, the additional chief secretary of health and family welfare and medication education for Karnataka.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) will follow a strategy of waiting and observing. “Till now we have not received any official information about this. If we get to hear anything from the state government, we will pass it on to the BCCI. The KSCA only hosts matches, but the decisions will be taken by the BCCI” a senior KSCA official said.
Meanwhile, according to a report in The Hindustan Times in Mumbai, on Saturday the citizen group Marine Drive Residents Action Group (MDRAG) wrote to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai Police demanding that the league be canceled to avoid the spread of the virus.
MDRAG Secretary Nikhil Banker said, “Because of such public gatherings we are concerned about our health safety. Every public gathering should be allowed for a limited edition about health concerns, and even IPL should not be allowed.”
