The fifth edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is likely to be called off this year due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the state, ESPNcricinfo reported on Friday (July 31).

The TNPL 2020 was originally supposed to have been held between June 10 and July 12 before it was cancelled because of the deadly outbreak.

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) was hoping to reschedule the tournament in August-September but with the latest government order prohibiting sporting events in August and the IPL 2020 set to begin in September, there is no window in the domestic calendar to fit it in.

Notably, there have been almost 240,000 COVID-19 positive cases in Tamil Nadu, with nearly 58,000 still active.

"We were initially looking at an August-September window, but it looks unlikely now," a TNCA official told ESPNcricinfo. "There seems to be no window to host the tournament, but we will take the final decision in the next couple of weeks."

As the 13th edition of Indian Premier League slated to be held in UAE from September 19 to November 8, star players such as R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar will be out of the country.

"The IPL is going to happen now and after the players may return from the IPL, the Ranji Trophy season may begin, so there is no window," the official conceded.