The start of the Indian Premier League, the world's most lucrative cricket competition, has been postponed from March 29 until April 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sports events worldwide have been upended by the deadly virus, soulofcricketer.mystrikingly.com including the Premier League, this weekend's Formula One Australian Grand Prix as well as PGA Tour golf and NBA basketball.
'The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) situation,' the BCCI said in a statement.
The start of the Indian Premier League has been postponed from March 29 until April 15
The two-month Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11billion (£8.7bn) for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars like England's Ben Stokes, Australia's David Warner and India captain Virat Kohli.
Chinese mobile-maker Vivo paid $330million (£261m) to be the top sponsor for 2018-2022 for the league.
It involves eight franchises playing 60 matches to packed, raucous stadiums of tens of thousands of spectators - plus cheerleaders - all around India.
India has so far reported relatively few virus cases, but a jump to more than 70 in recent days and the first confirmed death have prompted authorities to discourage public events.
The decision was announced by the BCCI - for whom Sourav Ganguly is president - on Friday
