Coronavirus: Pat Cummins in 'holding pattern' as IPL season in doubt

Australia's Pat Cummins is contracted to the Kolkata Knight Riders for this year's IPL. Reuters

Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins said the world's leading players have been left "in a bit of a holding pattern" as they await a decision on whether the lucrative Indian Premier League will go ahead as planned this month.

Play is scheduled to start on April 15, the day after India's three-week coronavirus lockdown is due to end and two months before restrictions on Australians travelling overseas could be lifted.

Cummins is IPL's most expensive overseas player after the Kolkata Knight Riders acquired him for a staggering $2.18 million (Dh8m) in the players' auction in December.

"They obviously haven't cancelled it or anything like that yet. It's still a bit of a holding pattern," Cummins said, speaking from home isolation near Sydney.

"We're in contact with our teams every few days. Obviously, everyone's still really keen for it to all go ahead," he said, "but you know the priority is to minimise risk of [coronavirus] spreading."

The start of the IPL season had already been pushed back from March 29 until April 15 "as a precautionary measure" over the coronavirus, the Indian cricket board said.

Even if the tournament does start after April 15, it could be without fans in the stadium and it is not clear that Australian players could attend with travel restrictions still in place.

"I don't expect anything too soon to happen," Cummins said, hinting at a possible delay. "I mean obviously the preference would be to be over there playing but ... I guess the silver lining is that we do get a bit of a break."

The two-month tournament is a huge revenue earner for all involved.

The Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11 billion (Dh40bn) for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars like England's Ben Stokes, Australia's David Warner and Indian captain Virat Kohli.