Demands to postpone the IPL 2026 or reschedule it to a few venues are being made after demands for austerity measures by PM Narendra Modi in middle of energy crisis.
Published: May 18, 2026 1:19 PM IST
The IPL 2026 season is being played out in the middle of a global energy crisis due to the Iran-Israel-US War earlier this year. Unlike the Pakistan Super League, the IPL 2026 matches are being played in front of packed stadium with the 10 teams flying across India over the course of 74 matches in the season. Now a new tension has risen for the T20 league as it heads towards the Playoffs stages, set to begin next week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already called for various austerity measures to conserve energy, including asking Indian citizens to cut down on foreign travel unless absolutely necessary. In response the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) have written to the Sports Minister of India to reschedule the remaining IPL 2026 season.
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IPL chairman Arun Dhumal took full cognizance of the matter and assured that the BCCI as well as IPL will follow any directives which comes from the Indian Government. The CTI chairman Brijesh Goyal wrote a letter to Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya demanding him to reschedule IPL 2026 to cut down on flight travels and limit the matches behind closed doors at a few venues – much like PSL 2026 which was held in front of empty stadium in Lahore.
“So far, there has not been any communication to BCCI to my knowledge. Independent agencies might have their views on certain (things), but we are accountable to the Government of India. If anything comes from the government, we will look into it and certainly adhere to the directions,” Arun Dhumal was quoted as saying by New Indian Express.
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The CTI in his letter to the Indian Sports Minister said that IPL teams would have travelled lakhs of kilometres by air and road, since the league kicked off on March 28. “While every government department, politician, officer, common citizen is trying to avoid wasteful expenditure on the advice of Prime Minister Modi, in these difficult times, IPL is the only event which seems to be untouched by any crisis at the moment,” read the CTI’s statement read.
Goyal demanded that new schedule should be issued for the remaining matches of the IPL. “Cutting down on air travel, matches without spectators and at a limited venues will save millions of litres of fuel, petrol and diesel and reduce the burden on the country. Even during the pandemic, the BCCI did the same,” the statement added.
The CTI are planning to send a mail to BCCI as well on Monday as Sports Ministry is yet to reply to them. The letter added that chartered aircrafts like Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 are commonly used by IPL franchise.
“These aircrafts consume on an average around 2400 to 3000 litres of fuel per hour. According to this, if the flight flies for about 2 hours, then the estimated consumption is about 5000 to 6000 litres of aviation fuel. If the aircraft is a little larger or is flying with more weight for longer distances, then this figure can go up to 7000 to 8000 litres. Now, if this fuel expenditure is multiplied by about 10 air journeys of the teams, then it can be said that each team is spending about 50,000 to 70,000 litres of aviation fuel,” said the letter.
The IPL 2025 was also postponed last year in the middle of India-Pakistan border tension with the venues changed as well. The league was similarly postponed and moved to UAE in 2021 in middle of COVID-19 pandemic.
