 "PCB forced to postpone all domestic cricket tournaments as India-Pakistan clash enters Day 4")
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has postponed domestic events in light of the ongoing clashes taking place across the India-Pakistan border. The PCB issued a statement on its official website, where it informed about the suspension of a few tournaments with immediate effect and said that they would resume later when the situation at the Line of Control (LOC) improves.
PCB suspends all domestic tournaments
“The Pakistan Cricket Board confirms that the ongoing President’s Trophy Grade-II, Regional Intra-District Challenge Cup, Inter-District U19 One-Day tournament have been postponed with immediate effect due to prevailing security condition in the country. The tournaments will resume from the same stage later, and a revised schedule will be shared closer to the resumption,” the PCB said in its statement.
On 9th May, the PCB was forced to reschedule the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025 mid-season due to safety concerns. Earlier, the PCB said the tournament will continue in the UAE and the new schedule and venues will be announced soon. But after a few hours, it was confirmed that PSL 2025 has been suspended indefinitely with some reports even suggesting that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif intervened personally to influence the decision.
Pakistani strikes on Indian cities triggers cross-border escalation
The militaries of India and Pakistan have been involved in a serious drone war after the Indian Army successfully conducted Operation Sindoor early on 7th May in response to the Pahalgam attack. According to India, precision missile strikes targetted terror camps across nine locations in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan’s Punjab province. This was in response to the terrorist attack that killed 26 Indian tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on 22 April.
India said that the Indian armed forces specifically targetted terrorist camps belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba and that no Pakistani military facilities were hit. Despite this, the Pakistani Army launched Operation Bunyan al-Marsus on 10th May, targetting Indian cities near the border with drones and cheap Chinese missiles. The Indian air defence system neutralised most of these attacks.
BCCI temporarily suspends IPL 2025
However, the escalation from the Pakistani side and India’s swift response have created an environment of fear among the civilians on both sides. The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala on 8th May was abandoned mid-way due to a security threat. The floodlights at the stadium had to be turned off to observe a blackout as Pakistan launched strikes around the same time near the Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat borders.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) arranged a special Vande Bharat train for players, support staff, commentators, production crew, and operations staff involved in the PBKS vs DC game to bring them back to Delhi because the air space near the western borders have been shut as a precautionary measure against Pakistani strikes. On 9th May, the BCCI announced the suspension of IPL 2025 for a week, keeping in mind the national sentiment and safety of all stakeholders.
Several other sporting events in the country have also been called off or postponed due to the rising Indo-Pak tensions. In response to Pakistani strikes, the Indian armed forces have targetted military bases at Rafiqui, Murid, Nur Khan and other places through air launch, precision ammunition and fighter jets during the early hours of Saturday. As per reports, a flight carrying foreign players from PSL left the Nur Khan base for Dubai just hours before the Indian strike .
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