India’s cricket board has suspended the money-spinning Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 tournament amid rising tensions between Pakistan and India, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.
IPL chairman Arun Singh Dhumal and the Indian cricket board’s secretary Devajit Saikia did not respond to Reuters calls and messages seeking comment.
Thursday’s IPL match was abandoned midway after fighting began in India’s border regions, but the cricket board attributed the disruption to a power failure at the stadium in the hill city of Dharamsala.
The world’s richest cricket tournament began its current season on March 22, and the final fixture was scheduled to be played on May 25, with matches being spread over 13 venues across the country.
The nuclear-armed neighbours have been locked in conflict since Wednesday, when India targeted multiple locations in Pakistan, claiming they were “terrorist infrastructure” in response to a deadly attack in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir last month.
New Delhi accused Islamabad of being involved in the Pahalgam attack, a charge Pakistan denied and sought an independent probe.
Pakistan responded to the Indian airstrikes with heavy artillery fire and both sides accused each other on Thursday of carrying out waves of drone attacks.
