NEW DELHI: The military tension between India and Pakistan has put the biggest Twenty20 cricket league in the world on hold while another one has been suspended for indefinite period.

The lucrative Indian Premier League was suspended for one week Friday while the Pakistan Super League was postponed less than 24 hours after the Pakistan Cricket Board had announced it would try to move the remaining eight games of the league to Dubai.

Leading foreign cricketers on both sides of the border have already started leaving for their respective countries and the Board of Control for Cricket in India is yet to announce the revised schedule.

There were reports in Indian media on Saturday that IPL organizers have shortlisted three southern cities — Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad — to host the remaining 16 games, provided it gets Indian government approval to resume.

The packed international cricket schedule could see some of the leading foreign players miss the remaining IPL games if the league extends beyond its scheduled May 25 final.

The IPL is the most popular cricket tournament in the world and runs between March and May. This year it has featured 65 international cricketers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, England and Afghanistan.

Several dozen foreign cricketers who weren’t picked in the IPL auction were drafted into the PSL, which was due to end May 18.

The decision to postpone IPL on Friday came after a night of artillery exchanges between Indian and Pakistani soldiers across their frontier in Kashmir, amid a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region.

On Friday night and Saturday, overseas cricketers and broadcast staff were given permission to fly out to their respective home countries, reducing the chance that the tournament would be resumed. There are about 70 overseas players in the IPL this season.

The BCCI said the decision to suspend the tournament was made “in the collective interest of all stakeholders.”

“While cricket remains a national passion, there is nothing greater than the nation and its sovereignty, integrity, and security of our country,” the BCCI statement said.

The suspension came after the match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala in northern India was abandoned Thursday evening when the power went out during a government-mandated blackout. Players from both teams returned by train late Friday to New Delhi.

Punjab’s next game against Mumbai Indians had already been moved from Dharamsala to Mumbai because of the closure of several airports in the Indian northwestern corridor.

In Pakistan, foreign players were flown out of Islamabad in a special chartered flight hours before both countries were engaged in missile and drone attacks on each other’s military bases in the most serious confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades.

On Thursday, an Indian drone fell inside the complex of the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium hours before the start of a PSL game in which several cricketers from New Zealand, Australia, West Indies, South Africa and England were due to compete.

PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also interior minister in the Pakistan government, held meetings with foreign cricketers and six franchise owners of the PSL before initially saying the tournament was being moved to Dubai before suspending it.

“Cricket, while being a unifying force and a source of joy, must take a respectful pause,” the PCB said in a statement.

The PCB said it acted on advice from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The PCB had earlier confirmed the relocation of eight remaining PSL matches to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, citing growing concerns among overseas players and the need to prioritize their safety. But the latest announcement said the PSL was being postponed and gave no indication whether this year’s edition would resume at some point.

England cricketer Sam Billings, New Zealand’s Colin Munro, South African Rilee Rossouw and Jason Holder of West Indies were among 43 foreign cricketers competing in the PSL.

“We have sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home,” the PCB said.

BENGALURU: India’s Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has postponed an eponymous javelin event in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru this month after his country and neighbor Pakistan extended their worst fighting in nearly three decades.
The Neeraj Chopra Classic on May 24, a World Athletics Gold category meet, was set to feature a host of international names including Anderson Peters, Julius Yego, Thomas Roehler and Curtis Thompson.
Chopra’s move came after cricket-mad India and Pakistan suspended their elite Twenty20 leagues on Friday in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
“This decision has been made after careful thought and consultation, with the wellbeing of athletes, stakeholders, and the broader community as the top priority,” Chopra’s team announced on social media on Friday.
“We believe in the unifying power of sport. But, in this critical moment, standing firm with the nation matters most. All our gratitude and thoughts at this point are only with our Armed Forces, who are at the forefront for our nation.”
Chopra said late last month it was “completely out of the question” that rival and Paris Olympics gold medalist Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan would attend the meet following a deadly Islamist militant attack in Indian Kashmir.
The two countries have clashed since India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were “terrorist camps” in retaliation for the attack in Kashmir, 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 dozens of people dying in the violence.
Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said a revised schedule for his event would be provided in due course.