Rediff
Ahmedabad, Nov 27: The Indian Cricket League prematurely called of its World Twenty20 Series due to the terror attacks in Mumbai.
The decision to call off the first leg of the second season was taken on Thursday evening at a high-level Executive Board meeting of the breakaway league in Ahmedabad.
"We have taken the decision of calling off the rest of the ICL World Series tournament. We believe that it is inappropriate to continue the series under the given circumstances. All players and officials are under appropriate security," Executive Board member and tournament director Kiran More said.
The ICL T20 World Series was at its fag end and scheduled to conclude on Saturday, with just two league matches, considered as virtual semi-finals, and the final remaining to be contested.
Earlier, the League had already called off Thursday's match between ICL Pakistan and ICL Bangladesh in the wake of dastardly attacks.
Asked if the tournament was postponed or totally called off, More said, "The Board has decided to call off the tournament and not postpone it. A decision on the trophy and other things will be taken in due course of time," he added.
ICL chairman Kapil Dev said the decision of the ICL management to cancel the event was backed by all parties concerned.
"The teams have shown confidence in the ICL management and supported the decision to call off the tour. In this hour of unprecedented tragedy in Mumbai we would like to extend all our support to the citizens of India," Kapil said.
Mumbai witnessed terror strikes at high-profile hotels and elite establishments since Wednesday night, resulting in more than 100 people killed and several injured.
The attacks have already had repercussions on England's on-going India tour and the series now has been called off after English cricketers expressed apprehensions on continuing with the tour.
England five one-dayers of the seven-match series and lost all the matches. They were also scheduled to play two Tests, in Ahmedabad (December 11-15) and Mumbai (December 10-23), the fate of which hangs in balance.
The attacks also forced the upcoming Champions League, to be held at three different venues, from December 3 to 10, to be postponed.