TNPL 2020 set to be called off amid COVID-19 crisis

The fifth season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is now "unlikely" to go ahead this year amid the coronavirus outbreak across the nation.

The 2020 edition of the TNPL was scheduled to be played from June 10 to July 12, but the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) had to postpone the start of the tournament in May, hoping to host it can take place in the August-September window.

However, India on Saturday reported 57,117 new COVID-19 positive cases in the last 24 hours.

According to to the data provided by the Health Ministry, Tamil Nadu is currently second on the most worst affected state with a total of 57,968 active cases and 3,935 deaths.

"We were initially looking at an August-September window, but it looks unlikely now. There seems to be no window to host the tournament, but we will take the final decision in the next couple of weeks," ESPNcricinfo quoted a TNCA official as saying.

Also, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 is slated to start from September 19 in the UAE. Tamil Nadu's star players R Ashwin (Delhi Capitals), Dinesh Karthik (Kolkata Knight Riders), Vijay Shankar (Sunrisers Hyderabad), and M Vijay (Chennai Super Kings) will be out of India.

"The IPL is going to happen now and after the players may return from the IPL, the Ranji Trophy season may begin, so there is no window," said the TNPL official.

In the fourth season of TNPL, Chepauk Super Gillies had defeated Dindigul Dragons in the final to lift the 2019 title.