Cricket in India is massive. It brings millions of people together. It's probably the one thing that can unite the country. This trend will never end for as long as cricket is in existence. However, it's become clear lately that this unity has somewhat cracked due to a few events that have shocked both the country and the cricketing world.
Amdist the ongoing feud between India and Pakistan, the IPL has been put to a halt for a week. IPL Chairman, Arun Dhumal, on Friday, confirmed, "The tournament has been suspended for a week. The next decision will be taken after assessing the situation."
The suspension came hours after the clash between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala was abruptly called off mid-innings. Spectators were notified about the cancellation and calmly evacuated from the venue; while both teams were safely escorted to their hotel under heightened security.
"As you know, the situation escalated yesterday… To ensure no panic in the crowd and the safety of the public, steps were taken and people were evacuated comfortably," Dhumal said.
"Further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the situation in consultation with relevant authorities and stakeholders," board secretary, Devajit Saikia, said in the statement.
"The decision was taken by the IPL Governing Council after due consultation with all key stakeholders following the representations from most of the franchisees, who conveyed the concern and sentiments of their players and also the views of the broadcaster, sponsors and fans; while the BCCI reposes full faith in the strength and preparedness of our armed forces, the Board considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders."
A BCCI (Indian Cricket Board) official revealed that the board made special arrangements for the safe transportation of players and staff. A special Vande Bharat train was deployed to move players from both teams and the broadcast crew from Dharamshala to Delhi, reflecting the seriousness of the situation and the board’s commitment to ensuring everyone’s safety.
Transport within India has been complicated by the closure of 27 airports over security concerns, including in the host city of Dharamsala. Thursday’s game there between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals was abandoned after 10.1 overs, with the players and staff of the two teams rushed out of the ground. They mingled on each other’s coaches; with some still wearing their pads, before returning to Delhi by chartered train on Friday morning.
Dharamsala is about 80km from Pathankot, site of one of the three Indian military bases targeted by what officials described as, "missiles and drones" on Thursday, leading to the decision to abandon the game. "It does not look nice that cricket goes on while the country is at war," a BCCI official told the news agency, PTI.
With 58 games played and 12 group-stage fixtures remaining, plus four playoff ties, the BCCI must now decide if and how to complete the competition. The option of relocating to the UAE – where the tournament was shifted when it was forced to shut down by the Covid outbreak of 2020 – is off the table because it is already set to host the PSL but a move to South Africa is feasible, aided by the fact that all six teams in that country’s own franchise tournament, the SA20, are controlled by owners of IPL sides. The IPL was also moved to South Africa in 2009 when it coincided with Indian elections.
The last time the IPL was shut down, when Covid flared up again in 2021, it resumed and concluded in the UAE that September and a resumption later this year, after the conclusion of India’s Test series in England, is possible. India are due to play six white-ball matches in Bangladesh in August followed by the eight-team Asia Cup in September, which they are due to host. Both are considered likely to be cancelled, opening a possible window for the IPL to resume in the middle of the English summer, clashing with the Hundred and the knockout stages of the T20 Blast.
Amid all this turmoil, players have started to leave the competition. The teams have already started disbanding, with players and support staff understood to be taking the next available flights out of and within India with help from their respective franchises and players associations in the case of the overseas contingent.
"The health and safety of players is not negotiable. We are in direct contact with all the South African players at the IPL and keeping them updated with security reports. We have offered them any support they need," South African Cricketers' Association chief executive, Andrew Breetzke, said in a statement.
New Zealand cricketers have already started the process. The New Zealand Players Association said they will be on their way home on flights leaving India on Saturday. New Zealand has five players at the IPL currently: Devon Conway; Mitchell Santner; Trent Boult; Rachin Ravindra and BJ Jacobs.
Chief executive of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association, Heath Mills, said, "All our players are booked on flights to come home to New Zealand today Indian time, so that's good from our perspective, and they're pleased about that."
In a statement, NZ Cricket said all New Zealanders in the IPL had either left India or were in the process of leaving, "as flights become available." It said New Zealand cricketers in the PSL - the Pakistan equivalent - including players, coaches, support staff and commentators had left Pakistan for Dubai, where games would be played.
The men's New Zealand A team was in Bangladesh, but its schedule was unchanged. NZ Cricket said its current advice was the tour should go ahead and it was continuing to monitor the security situation.
Mills said he was not sure what might happen if Indian cricket authorities decided to postpone or suspend the competition further. "At the moment, we're just focused on the players getting home and then we'll just wait and see what the Indian Cricket Board wants to do."
"The players are reading everything that we're all reading and obviously their friends and family are back home too, so it's been a really anxious time for the guys over the last three or four days and they just want to get home."
Along the same lines, non-playing New Zealanders are also departing India. Former Black Caps captains, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori, both hold coaching roles within the league, as head coaches of the Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, respectively.
The temporary suspension of IPL 2025 adds to a growing list of national and international events impacted by the volatile border situation following India’s Operation Sindoor and Pakistan’s subsequent retaliation through drone and missile attacks.
Should the IPL fail to resume within the coming weeks, the Herald states that the league will be moved to a date later in 2025, given India’s tour of England in June.
It's not only the IPL that's making the headlines. The (Test) retirement of Rohit Sharma and impending retirement of Virat Kohli on the same format.
India captain, Rohit Sharma, has announced his retirement from Test cricket but has stated he will continue to play one-day internationals.
"Hello everyone, I would like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket," Rohit posted on his Instagram story. "It's been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites. Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format."
Rohit played 67 Tests for his country, with his retirement meaning he will no longer play a part in India's five-Test tour of England this summer.
It comes after a prolonged run of poor form for the veteran batter, with Rohit scoring only one fifty in his last 15 Test innings, averaging 10.93, a span which included 10 single-digit scores. In India's most recent 3-1 Test series defeat to Australia over the winter, Rohit averaged 6.20 across five innings before sitting out the final Test in Sydney.
Rohit's career batting average was 40.57 across his 67 Test matches, including 12 hundreds and 18 half centuries.
India are due to face England in a five-Test series this summer, starting at Headingley on 20 June. Of his seven Tests played in England, Rohit scored one century, with 127 at The Oval in 2021.
This is a decision that has disappointed some within Indian cricket, including Rohit’s former team-mate, Manoj Tiwary. Speaking on Cricbuzz, Tiwary revealed that he felt Rohit was deserving of a more ceremonious farewell, given his significance to the Indian team over the years.
"If Rohit Sharma had retired not on social media but on the field after playing, it would have been a more fitting send-off," said Tiwary. "It would've felt better for all of us too."
While players such as James Anderson and Tim Southee have received popular farewells in recent years, Rohit will not have the same grace, having taken a step back ahead of India’s five-match tour of England this summer. Nevertheless, Tiwary believes this is a mistake on behalf of the Indian team management given the quality of service Rohit has provided the team over the years.
"Just look at his record as a Test captain, it's very good. He's won 12 Tests, lost 9, and drawn 3. So there's no doubt about his success rate — it's solid," added Tiwary.
The former India and Bengal batter also focused on Rohit’s qualities as a leader for being a reason to provide him with a better send-off. "He was a very popular leader among this group of boys. If you see, even the young players wanted to play under him. We always hear them say in their interviews, 'I really enjoyed playing under Rohit Sharma's captaincy,'" added Tiwary.
Rohit had a more memorable farewell to a different format, when he announced his retirement from T20I cricket right after lifting the T20 World Cup title in Barbados in 2024, alongside long-time team-mates, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.
Rohit’s final Test match was at the iconic MCG against Australia for the Boxing Day Test in 2024, before he sat out of the New Year’s Test in Sydney in the subsequent match. India are searching for a new captain ahead of the new WTC (World Test Championship) cycle, beginning on 20 June at Headingley in Leeds, with Jasprit Bumrah and Shubman Gill high amongst the list of candidates.
Former England captain, Michael Atherton, feels that Rohit Sharma's Test retirement didn't come as a surprise as the 38-year-old's form and captaincy didn't work in the end. Rohit announced his retirement from Tests via an Instagram story, just ahead of the selection for the England tour.
There were reports suggesting that BCCI were looking to move on from Rohit and Atherton pointed to this while talking to Sky Sports. The former England captain said that ultimately the decision was made as Rohit's form was declining and India were losing under his captaincy.
"Was that retirement completely his own decision, or did he get a sense that he's about to be pushed or the axe was coming because there was a report, the day before the announcement from Rohit, that the selectors had decided to move on. So that's speculation, we don't know, but ultimately the decision didn't come as a surprise because it's a bad combination for any captain, as you know, and as I know well if you're losing games, and you ain't getting any runs, and India had lost 5 out of the last 6 matches under Rohit's captaincy. Three against New Zealand and a couple in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and his form had really tailed off and of course, that's a bad combination for any captain," said Atherton.
Atherton also said that the massive depth in Indian cricket meant that the patience with Rohit was going to be less given his age.
"He's 38. There's a massive depth of talent in Indian cricket. So, given that level, that depth of talent and the competition, it means that you're not going to be so patient when form or results go against you. And so in that sense I didn't think it was that much of a surprise. But always sad when a Test career comes to end. He's been a significant cricketer. The record or statistics wouldn't suggest, of the very top rank in terms of Test cricket," said Atherton.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has communicated his desire to retire from Test cricket to the BCCI ahead of the big five-match series in England, for which he is expected to be a part of the squad. It's been understood that Kohli has been having these conversations with officials of the BCCI for the past month or so.
If Kohli doesn't change his mind, he will bring the curtain down on a glorious career that has spanned 14 years and included 123 Tests - 68 of them as captain - in which he has 9 230 runs at an average of 46.85.
It hasn't been a particularly fruitful time in the format for Kohli of late. When he scored 100 not out in the Perth Test in November 2024, it was his first century in Tests since July 2023 (against West Indies in Port of Spain) and his average, 55.10, at its peak after he scored his career best of 254 not out vs. South Africa in Pune in 2019, has been 32.56 over the last 24 months.
Despite that, it's understood that the team management and selectors expect his experience to be crucial on the tour, where India will also be playing under a new captain - Shubman Gill is the frontrunner to take over from Rohit Sharma following his retirement from Test cricket earlier this week.
Kohli, as well as Rohit, were included in the highest category (A+) in the latest BCCI contracts, which is usually meant for players who play all three international formats. Both Kohli and Rohit had retired from T20Is after India won the World Cup last year and, if Kohli does retire from Tests, they will only be available for ODI cricket going forward.
Apart from Rohit, India are without Ravi Ashwin, who retired from international cricket during the 2024-25 series in Australia. With Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane not in the mix at the moment and Mohammed Shami's form under scrutiny after his return from a long injury lay-off, Kohli is among the only seniors around, along with KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah.
Before Rohit replaced Kohli as India's Test captain, India had won 40 of the 68 games in which Kohli led, losing just 17. The 40 wins makes Kohli India's most successful Test captain of all time - MS Dhoni with 27 from 60 and Sourav Ganguly with 21 from 49 rank below him and also places him at No. 4 on the overall list of captains with the most Test wins, behind South African, Graeme Smith (53 from 109), Aussie, Ricky Ponting (48 from 77) and fellow compatriot, Steve Waugh (41 from 57).
During his golden run, he averaged 75.93 in 2016, 75.64 in 2017, 55.08 in 2018 and 68.00 in 2019. During that period between 2016 and 2018, Kohli scored 3 596 runs in 35 Tests at an average of 66.59, with 14 hundreds and eight fifties in 58 innings.
"A highly influential figure in Indian cricket is expected to meet the star batter to persuade him to continue in the longest format of the game. The meeting is expected to be held before the Test squad selection, which is tentatively scheduled for May 23," the report read.
The report added that the exact venue for the BCCI meeting with Virat Kohli to discuss his reported decision to retire from Test cricket remains unconfirmed. A media conference is set to announce India's new Test captain. The selection for the India A squad, which will also tour England, is expected soon.
The BCCI has previously been successful in convincing players like Rohit Sharma to step down from the Test captaincy and there may have been discussions with Kohli before Rohit’s retirement announcement.
While it's uncertain whether Kohli will be persuaded to continue playing Test cricket, there is hope. The Board is also eager to understand Kohli's reasons for stepping away from Test cricket, particularly since he had maintained an impressive average above 50 until recently.
The news of Virat Kohli's potential retirement from Test cricket has sent shockwaves through the cricket world.
For the unversed, Kohli is India's third-highest run-scorer in Tests. He has scored 9 230 runs from 123 matches, with an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries. However, his recent form has been a concern, with an average of under 23 in his last 10 Test appearances.
It's a real shame when a competition has to stop for an unrelated incident. However, the right decision was made. To me, a week insn't enough. The BCCI and IPL need to wait until the tensions start to die down before making any further decisions. If it's absolutely essential that the tournament be concluded; then move it somewhere where it's safe to do so. There are far more important things in life than cricket. The value and quality of life is a forefront example.
As for the retirements, it's up to them to make the decision. Sometimes, their form can be a strong indicator. I tend to agree with Manoj Tiwary. Rohit Sharma should get a proper send-off. Retiring through a post isn't the way to go for a seasoned veteran.
The BCCI should leave Virat Kohli to make his own decision. He's done enough for India. India won't be starved out of talent with these retirements. As Michael Atherton said, India are spoiled for choice with other talented cricketers. The future of the Indian cricket team will remain safe.