File photo of the IPL trophy© BCCI/IPL
The IPL match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala on Thursday was cancelled midway following air raid alerts in neighbouring cities of Jammu and Pathankot, putting the entire league at risk of being called off due to India’s ongoing military conflict with Pakistan. The Punjab side was 122 for 1 in 10.1 overs when the lights went out which at first was attributed to floodlight failure. The game started later than scheduled due to rain before the hill town went dark due to .
The teams and the spectators were eventually evacuated from the stadium for their security. The capacity of the picturesque ground here is approximately 23,000 and it was packed to about 80 per cent of it at the time of evacuation.
“There was no panic from the spectators. They (spectators and players) were moved out of the stadium very carefully and safely,” an HPCA source told PTI. Prabhsimran Singh was batting at 50 off 28 balls while his opening partner Priyansh Arya made 70 off 34 balls before getting dismissed by pacer T Natarajan before proceedings came to a halt as floodlights went out.
With the cancellation of tonight’s match, it is not clear whether the league will proceed any further and it is learnt that a BCCI meeting is currently in progress amid security concerns raised by the participating foreign players.
India launched missile attacks on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir a fortnight after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.
On Thursday, a blackout was enforced in several districts including Pathankot, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Mohali in Punjab and Union Territory Chandigarh amid air raid alarms and reports of explosion-like sounds in Jammu.
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