The IPL was set for a March 29 start, but was pushed back in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak to April 15. But with India in a 21-day lockdown until April 14, the possibility of the delayed start has gone out of the window as well. And with no clarity on when sports events with full crowds can resume, the likelihood of squeezing in a tournament before the end of the Indian summer has virtually been ruled out.

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“I don’t know any more than you know about when IPL would be played or people talking about whether it can be pushed back,” Buttler was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “At the moment, everything is quite indefinite as no one knows how long it will last. So it can’t be decided at the moment when it could or could not happen.

“As for the stature of the tournament, it’s a massive, massive tournament. Revenue that is involved in IPL is massive. It is a very important competition to cricket and it’s a big shame that it’s not going ahead or whether it does have the way to push it in the schedule and allow it.”

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Finding a window for the tournament later in the year is quite difficult, with a T20 World Cup scheduled for October and India set to tour Australia for a four-Test series at the end of the year.

Buttler acknowledged that a late season might mean a few players missing out, but hoped the organisers could find a workable solution.

”Of course, that might mean certain players might be unavailable,” he said. “They will have to work through as the situation unfolds.”