Everest Premier League 2020 postponed due to coronavirus threat

Only days after celebrating the signing of New Zealand’s Corey Anderson for the event, the organisers of the Everest Premier League have announced that the 2020 tournament, scheduled for March 14-28, has been postponed due the threat of the coronavirus COVID-19.

The decision came after detailed consultations with the Nepal Ministry of Home Affairs according to the release, and the organisers have committed to rescheduling the event, which was set to the be the EPL’s fourth edition, “at the closest possible time whenever the situation is favourable.”

In the press release, EPL Founder and MD Aamir Akhtar said: “We are naturally all sad at today’s announcement of having to temporarily postpone the 2020 EPL, but we simply have to put the health and well-being of all Nepalis and our overseas players before everything else. It was crucial that we announced this decision now at the earliest possible juncture to ensure the minimum possible disruption to all of our stakeholders, who are integral parts of the ongoing success and growth of the league. We would like to thank the Government of Nepal for their support and counsel through this challenging period, and we support entirely the professional advice throughout. 

“There is no doubt this year’s edition of the TVS Everest Premier League was going to be the biggest and best ever, this will still be the case. I would like to assure that as soon as we are able to go ahead with the 2020 season, we will be working to ensure that it will be the spectacular event the likes of which Nepal has never seen before. Finally, I would also like to thank all of our sponsors, players from Nepal and overseas, Cricket Association of Nepal, International Cricket Council, broadcast partners, franchise owners and most crucially you the fans for your understanding on what has been a very difficult decision, but ultimately the absolutely correct one,” he concluded.

The Everest Premier League founder was recently a guest of the Emerging Cricket Podcast:

More to come..