Cricket-India suspends IPL for a week, Pakistan moves T20 league amid conflict

By Amlan Chakraborty

The Indian Premier League was suspended for one week on Friday while the Pakistan Super League moved its remaining matches to the United Arab Emirates in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to suspend the remainder of the ongoing IPL 2025 with immediate effect for one week," secretary Devajit Saikia said in a statement on Friday.

The IPL governing council consulted the franchises and players and "considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders", he said.

"While cricket remains a national passion, there is nothing greater than the nation and its sovereignty, integrity, and security of our country," Saikia added.

"The BCCI remains firmly committed to support all efforts that safeguard India and will always align its decisions in the best interest of the nation."

Friday's IPL match in Dharamsala was abandoned midway through, with organisers citing a power outage, while Sunday's game at the same north Indian city was shifted to Ahmedabad because of the border tension.

The two countries have clashed since India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were "terrorist camps" in retaliation for a deadly attack in its troubled region of Kashmir last month, in which it said Islamabad was involved.

Pakistan denied the accusation but both countries have exchanged cross-border firing and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace since then, with nearly four dozen people dying in the violence.

The IPL still has 12 group matches left, which are due to be followed by the playoffs culminating in the May 25 final in Kolkata.

New dates and venues for the remaining matches will be declared "in due course", said Saikia.

The conflict took its toll on the other side of the border as well with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) deciding to move the last eight PSL games to ensure "possible reckless targeting" of the players.

"The PCB has always stood by the position that politics and sports need to be kept apart," PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, also Pakistan's interior minister, said in a statement on Friday.

"As a responsible organisation that has overcome adversities repeatedly and ensured that the game of cricket flourishes, it was important for us to ensure the mental well-being of all players participating in the PSL."

Dates and venues of the remaining PSL matches will be shared later, the PCB said.