MUMBAI, (Reuters) – India’s sports minister today said any decision to allow the Indian Premier League to go ahead this year would be taken by the government, not the Indian cricket board, and would be based on how well the country has contained the novel coronavirus.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said the IPL would go ahead only if there was no risk to public health.

“In India the government has to take a call and it will be depending on the situation of the pandemic, how we progress as a nation,” Rijiju told the India Today television channel.

The BCCI, the richest cricket body in the world, had said it would consider staging the lucrative IPL in October/November if the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Australia during those months, did not go ahead.

The IPL is worth almost $530 million to the BCCI and attracts the best international and Indian cricketers.