The 2020 IPL, the 13th installment of cricket’s biggest league, could face further delay, after the Board of Control for Cricket in India postponed a scheduled conference call with franchise owners.

The IPL, originally set for a March 29 start, was pushed back to April 15, amidst growing concerns surrounding the spread of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, pandemic.

India has since been in a lockdown, as it fights the disease, and now, the postponement of the call, which was set to discuss the way forward, has further pushed the tournament under a cloud. With the BCCI itself acknowledging the graveness of the situation, a cancellation is now a quite real possibility.

“If Olympics can be postponed by a year, IPL is a much smaller entity in that regard,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by The Times of India. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to organise. At this point the government is not even thinking about allowing foreign visas.”

The BCCI is still waiting to see if things improve, but with franchise owners also throwing their support behind a cancellation, a formal announcement increasingly seems inevitable.

Speaking to PTI, Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia said, “Humanity first, everything else comes second. The situation has not improved, so there is no point in even talking about it. If IPL doesn’t happen, so be it.

“I can’t even think about the IPL at this point. It is irrelevant along with everything else. The only thing which is relevant is in what we are living in and it is a world war three situation where we are fighting to  help so many people.”