IPL 2020 scheduled to go ahead insists BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly despite increasing coronavirus threat

The competition is scheduled to get underway on March 29 and there are no plans to postpone or cancel the 13th edition

• Sky Sports to show IPL
• IPL final bound for Mumbai

The Indian Premier League will not be cancelled or postponed despite the increasing threat posed by the coronavirus, according to BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly.

Thirty-one cases of the disease have been confirmed in India, with in excess of 90,000 reported in 87 countries across the world.

Players from Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, West Indies, Nepal and Afghanistan are due to jet into South Asia for the eight-team competition, which gets underway on March 29.

Nepal's Everest Premier League and a World Cup qualifying event have both been postponed due to concerns over the virus.

International tours, including England's Tests in Sri Lanka, are however going ahead unaffected. The IPL remains on course to go ahead but Ganguly promises "precautions" will be taken.

"The IPL is very much on. Everywhere, tournaments are going on,’ Ganguly told the Press Trust of India. "England are already in Sri Lanka. South Africa are here. There are no issues. 

"County teams are travelling all over the world. They are travelling to Abu Dhabi, UAE to play. So there is no problem.

"We will take all precautions. I don’t know exactly what the extra measures are. It’s only medical team which will tell us about that.

"The medical team is already in touch with the hospitals so that everything is available. We will do what the doctors say. They are the professionals."

Subscribe to The Cricketer for exclusive content every day: The inside track on England's Test tour with George Dobell in Pakistan, award-winning analysis, breaking news and interviews and the only place for in-depth county coverage all year round. Plus: An ad-free app experience at your fingertips. Subscribe to thecricketer.com today for just £1.