The IPL will not have an opening ceremony this year after the Committee of Administrators (CoA) running Indian cricket has decided to allocate the money set aside for it to the families of the CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack.
The opening ceremonies of the cash-rich T20 league are a heady mix glitz and glamour with performances by Bollywood stars being the highlight. However, as a mark of respect to the slain CRPF men, it has been decided to scrap the ceremony for the event's 12th edition beginning 23 March.
“We’ll not have a regular IPL opening ceremony and the amount of the budget for the opening ceremony will be given to families of the victims of this terror attack.”Vinod Rai, CoA Chief
It was BCCI acting president CK Khanna, who had officially made the proposal to donate at least Rs 5 crore for the martyr's families.
"I am very happy that COA has taken a good call to donate the money for martyrs' families. Since the entire budget allocated for the IPL opening ceremony is being donated for a noble cause. the amount of is expected to be significantly more than Rs 5 crore," Khanna told PTI.
It is learnt that 2018 IPL opening ceremony's budget was in the tune of Rs 15 crore and something similar to that amount will be donated.
This decision was taken in a meeting held on Friday, 22 February, in which the CoA running Indian cricket also decided against making any immediate decision on the World Cup clash against Pakistan but said it would individually urge ICC members to "sever ties with any nation that is a terrorist hub".
There has been a call to boycott the 16 June World Cup face-off against Pakistan at the Old Trafford in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.
There are reports that the CoA and the BCCI might approach the ICC seeking Pakistan's ouster from the mega-event in England that starts on 30 May.
The call to boycott the match has come from some prominent names in Indian cricket such as former captain Sourav Ganguly and senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
However, offering a different view, batting great Sunil Gavaskar has stated that India should not hand over points to Pakistan by boycotting the game. He advocated continued shunning of bilateral cricket ties.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)