65:Punjab Kings'
With the second wave of COVID-19 continuing to wreak havoc in India, people from all around the world have offered their support to the country. At such a time even the country's top sporting stars and teams have not hesitated to do their bit to help the nation recover from the health emergency. As things stands now, hundreds of thousands of positive cases are being reported every day with thousands dying every 24 hours.
The likes of Pat Cummins, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and others had already chipped in with funds to help India fight the virus and now it is the Indian Premier League franchise Punjab Kings who have decided to join the fight. The KL Rahul-led side has donated INR 70 lakhs to buy medical resources for COVID-19 in India. Notably, the burden on the health infrastructure of India has been immense with several hospitals even reporting shortage of oxygen supplies. The funds through various organisations are being used to get enough resources in place.
COVID-19 didn't spare IPL 2021
So devastating the pandemic has been in the recent times that it did not even spare the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 which was being played inside bio-secure bubbles. Several cases of players getting infected were reported and finally the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL organising committee were left with no other option than to indefinitely suspend the tournament.
Too early to say whether there will be a window to complete IPL: Ganguly
Meanwhile, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has said that it is too early to say whether the Board will get a suitable window to conduct the remaining matches of the tournament. However, he announced that it does not seem possible to have the remaining fixtures in India. England, UAE and Sri Lanka have emerged as various potential venues to host the rescheduled event.