Coronavirus Threat Looms Large Over South Africa Series And IPL

While nothing is official yet, the coronavirus outbreak is threatening to spoil the upcoming cricket season in India. India are gearing up for a bumper summer that gets underway with the ODI series against South Africa before the Indian Premier League (IPL) starts.

India host South Africa for three matches with the series getting underway on March 12 in Dharamsala. The series ends on March 18 before the thirteenth edition of the IPL starts on March 29 in Mumbai. Defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Chennai Super Kings in a blockbuster tournament-opener.

According to Indian Express, nothing is official yet as far as hosting both the competitions is concerned but persons concerned will monitor things for a few days before taking a call on cricket in India in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Detection of six cases in Agra on Tuesday has put officials on alert, considering that Lucknow is scheduled to host the second ODI against South Africa, on March 15. The first and third games are in Dharamsala and Kolkata, on March 12 and 18, respectively.

With the virus spreading fast all over the world, the central government has suspended visas for those travelling to India from China, South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly recently cancelled a trip to Dubai for an Asian Cricket Council meeting, following reports that the disease is on the rise there. After revelations of people in India testing positive, cricket officials have also started thinking about it.

“As of now, there is no cancellation or change. But nothing can be said for final until we get a clearer picture or the government issues a directive,” said an official.

The BCCI is yet to give an update on the outbreak but might be forced to rethink if situation worsens. On the other hand, there were no reports of the South African board seeking updates from BCCI in this regard. However, it won’t be surprising if South African board ask about the outbreak after the recent cases found in India. Recently, the Asian fencing body had sought details like the number of cases, deaths if any, cities affected etc from the Indian federation, which wants to host the continental Olympic qualifiers.

The outbreak can affect the IPL even more. Not just players from different countries, the event sees a number of foreigners coming over as commentators, management staff, technicians, TV crew and cheerleaders. If the virus spreads in the next few days, this will be another point to ponder for the health ministry as well as BCCI.

“We are going ahead with plans since there is no instruction from any quarter to do otherwise,” said an official of Chennai Super Kings. “As per government guidelines, passengers arriving in India will have to go through certain procedures. Our players will also be subjected to those rules. If we hear from authorities to do something specific in the coming days, we will do that. Otherwise, let’s wait and see.”

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