IPL 2025 Suspended: 4 Past Incidents It Was Stopped Or Moved Out Of India
The 2025 IPL is suspended due to security concerns. This is the fifth time the league has been affected due to non-sporting issues. Check the previous four instances here.
The 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been temporarily suspended due to security concerns after heated cross-border interactions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.
India targeted nine terrorist camps in precision strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) after 26 local tourists lost their lives in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam. The situation has become quite tense since, with shelling in border states and precautionary blackouts in other regions, too.
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In IPL, it came to a head on Thursday when the match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala — around 60 kilometres away from the border — was stopped mid-way due to a floodlight failure, before players and officials were escorted out due to security concerns.
It was soon reported that foreign players participating in the league had expressed concerns and a desire to go back home. A BCCI official confirmed the suspension to the news agency PTI.
“It does not look nice that cricket goes on while the country is at war," he said.
This is not the first time that the IPL has not gone on as usual. There have been four past instances of the league either being suspended or moved out of India due to non-sporting reasons.
In fact, IPL has been seeing such incidents since its second season in 2009. The IPL’s dates clashed with the schedule of the General Lok Sabha Elections in the country, and the BCCI didn’t receive enough security assurances from the government to hold the tournament at home.
In late March, it was decided to move the tournament to South Africa. It was held successfully in the same format as the inaugural edition in India across eight venues.
The same thing happened in 2014. Because the elections’ dates clashed with the start of the IPL, the United Arab Emirates hosted the first 20 matches. After a one-day gap, the remaining 40 matches, including the playoffs, were hosted in India.
IPL’s biggest test came in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was just setting in at the time, the BCCI announced that the season was ‘postponed’ in April. By July, it had been decided that it would be moved the the UAE in a window between 19th September to 10th November.
The BCCI tried to host the following season, in 2021, with strict bio-security measures in India. The first 29 matches of the season went through rather comfortably at home but a significant number of bio-bubble breaches — apparently due to extensive, unavoidable travel via airports — made a few players catch the virus.
Match 30 (between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and 31 (Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians) couldn’t begin and the season was ultimately suspended. The second half resumed in the UAE again from September 19 to October 15.
4 past incidents the IPL was suspended or moved before 2025
| Season | Incident Type | Action Taken | Reason | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Entire season moved | Held in South Africa | General elections | South Africa |
| 2014 | Partial move | First leg in the UAE, Second in India | General elections | UAE & India |
| 2020 | Entire season moved | Held in the UAE | COVID-19 pandemic | UAE |
| 2021 | Suspended mid-way | Resumed later in UAE | COVID-19 bio-bubble breach | India to UAE |
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