Earlier this month, the organisers had conducted trials to select the 72 players for the six-team league at different grounds in Bathinda. (Express photo)
While sporting action in India remains suspended with the Union Home Ministry restricting the conduct of sports events including the IPL, a private cricket league — Punjab T10 League – seemed all set to take off in Bathinda from Monday (June 15 to June 30), until it was cancelled as permission for it was withdrawn late in the evening.
While apart from getting local sponsors, the league organisers had also tied up with online gaming platform Dream 11 and posted the details on its social media accounts on Saturday, Punjab government said that it will not allow the tournament to go ahead. Surprisingly, the organisers had been overseeing arrangements at the 10 10 Sports Club, Bathinda for the last one week and also posted pictures of the arrangements on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier this month, the organisers had conducted trials to select the 72 players for the six-team league at different grounds in Bathinda.
Earlier in the day, Balwinder Kumar Sharma, organiser of the Punjab T10 League, had said: “We are holding the Punjab T10 League in Bathinda starting June 15. We conducted the trials earlier when sports stadiums were allowed to open. We took all the precautions while conducting trials maintaining social distancing and players were selected based on their performance in the trials. The league will be held without spectators and all the safety precautions will be followed. After getting the required permission, we are organising the league from Monday.”
Punjab Sports and Affairs minister Rana Gurmit Sodhi, meanwhile, said the Punjab government has not allowed such tournaments and it will be stopped.
“As per now, I don’t know about conduct of any such league. Punjab government is adhering to the MHA guidelines and no sports event is allowed in the state. The Punjab Sports department had issued a SOP for training of players earlier and players are allowed to train with social distancing measures. No trials are allowed. I will enquire from the Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, and no such events will be allowed at any place in Punjab. I also appeal to the public in Punjab to not organise any such events be it kabaddi or wrestling till further directions come,” said Sodhi.
Before the Sports Minister intervened, League’s organiser Sharma had claimed: “According to our information, matches can be held in green zone and the permission is not to be given by Punjab government. We applied for the permission of conduct of the league to the deputy commissioner office and after we got the permission, we have started preparations of the league. There will be no spectators and players will follow rules like no saliva on ball, no celebration and use of face mask.”
Later in the evening, the DC said that the permission stood withdrawn.
B Srinivasan, Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, said “We have cancelled the permission for the conduct of the Punjab T10 league today. They had applied for permission earlier stating the matches will be conducted without spectators. So we allowed it earlier. But after checking the guidelines, we have cancelled the permission.”
Last month, the MHA had allowed the opening up of stadiums and sports complexes. However, it had said that ban on holding sporting events will remain.
The six-team league, which has 12-member teams like Ludhiana Lions, Bathinda Bulls, Patiala Panthers, Amritsar Alligators, Ferozepur Falcons and Moga Mongoose, was earlier scheduled to happen from June 4 to June 14 before it was postponed.
The latest schedule put forth by the organisers now stands cancelled.