Cricket news round-up – March 14: IPL 2020 postponed to April 15

Jaydev Unadkat helped Saurashtra win their first Ranji Trophy. Due to the coronavirus threat, the start of IPL was delayed until mid-April. The ongoing ODI series between India and South Africa was called off.

Saurashtra claim maiden Ranji title

Saurashtra became the latest Ranji Trophy champion after taking a first-innings lead of 44 runs against Bengal. On Friday, it took them 14 overs to pick up the last four Bengal wickets to ensure the lead and virtually complete the win. Their inspirational captain Jaydev Unadkat picked up two wickets and completed a run-out when the Bengal batsman Akashdeep Singh stayed out of the crease after being beaten by a ball. It was a good sense shown by the Sourashtra captain who finished the season with 67 wickets, 12 more than the second-placed Sanjay Yadav.

Saurashtra batted for 34 overs in their second innings and scored 105/4 before the captains agreed to shake hands and match ended as a draw. There were jubilant scenes for Saurashtra who got their first Ranji title in their fourth final. Arpit Vasavada was the man of the match for his century in the first innings. For Bengal, it was a familiar story as this is their 12^th Ranji final loss along with two previous wins.

IPL 2020 delayed

Due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country, the 13^th edition of the Indian Premier League has been deferred to April 15. The Indian cricket board released a statement on Friday saying, “The BCCI is concerned and sensitive about all its stakeholders, and public health in general, and it is taking all necessary steps to ensure that, all people related to IPL including fans have a safe cricketing experience. The BCCI will work closely with the Government of India along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and all other relevant Central and State Government departments in this regard.”

Meanwhile, the Delhi government announced that they would not allow any IPL matches in the national capital to safeguard the interest of public health. An IPL General Council meeting with all franchises is scheduled for March 14 to discuss the further steps ahead.

England tour of Sri Lanka called off

At the request of the England Cricket Board, the England tour of Sri Lanka for the two-match Test series has been called off. The first match of the series was scheduled to start on March 19 and England were busy playing a four-day warm-up match on Friday. The practice was abandoned immediately and the players left for the earliest flight. This became the first international cricket series to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

ECB said, “After overnight discussions between our teams in Sri Lanka and the SLC, the decision has been made to postpone the series and bring players and support staff home. Our aim will be to reschedule the series.”

India-South Africa series cancelled

Two remaining matches of the ongoing ODI series between India and South Africa have been cancelled followed by the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the county. The first match of the series at Dharamshala was washed-out. The remainder of the series was decided to be held in empty stadiums and accordingly, the players reached Lucknow, the venue for the second match on Friday. But then the BCCI announced otherwise.

The official media release by the BCCI read, “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday announced to reschedule the ongoing ODI series in view of the Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) outbreak. Cricket South Africa will visit India at a later date to play 3 One-day Internationals. The BCCI-CSA will jointly work out the revised schedule.”