Amid escalating India-Pakistan border tensions, the BCCI on Friday (May 9) suspended the remainder of the IPL 2025 with immediate effect for one week.

The media advisory was released by the board secretary Devajit Saikia, who added that further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after security assessment and stakeholder consultation.

Meanwhile, a report published in ESPNcricinfo claims that Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad have been shortlisted to host the 16 remaining matches if the cash-rich league resumes in May.

Despite the proactive step, the BCCI officials acknowledged the difficulty of restarting the tournament quickly in the current circumstances.

According to the report, franchise officials have been informally informed of this move while several team officials indicated that the rest of the season could be played later in the year.

After announcing its decision to suspend the IPL 2025 for a week, the Indian board also arranged chartered flights for all the overseas players to reach home safely.

While the franchises remain hopeful that most overseas players would return if the tournament were to resume later this month, they admitted there would be no guarantees in case the window goes beyond May 25. That's because of the bilateral commitments for several players, as well as the World Test Championship (WTC) final between Australia and South Africa, scheduled to be held at Lord’s from June 11-15.

Notably, the IPL 2025 match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala was called off midway on Thursday (May 8) due to what the broadcasters called a "technical" issue. However, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal later admitted in an interview that the stadium was evacuated due to a red alert issued in Jammu.

A total of 57 matches had been completed in the 18th edition of IPL. There are 12 league matches still remaining, followed by the four play-off fixtures.

(With ESPNcricinfo Inputs)