Persistent rain since morning delayed the toss and eventually the semifinal was called off without a ball being bowled, taking Indians into the summit clash and leaving England players in tears.

India entered the final after their last-four clash against England was washed out in Sydney. They had topped the group.

The World Cup will now held in two parts before the Olympic Games.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended his best wishes to Indian and Australian teams ahead of the Women's Twenty20 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

Overwhelmed by the occasion, India crumbled to 99 all out in front of a turnout of 86174 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, a record in women's cricket history.

The IPL is slated to start on March 29 with the opening match between the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings and Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians in what is arguably the clash of the titans at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

This is the first postponement of an EPL game, after UEFA Champion's League and Europa League games were played behind closed doors and Italy, Spain and France league fixtures have gone haywire.

The game will begin at 9 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) at the Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium with two further fixtures, Italy v United States and Mexico v Canada, later in the day.

The MCG in its statement shared the Australian DHHS's recommendation for those who were seated in section N42 of the ground during Sunday’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final.

As a result, no foreign player will be available for the IPL till April 15. Before that, the shooting World Cup and the Indian Open golf tournament were postponed while badminton's India Open will be played without any spectators.

IPL is scheduled to begin on March 29 between the Chennai Super Kings and the defending champions Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Earlier, the Maharashtra state government had expressed reservations against hosting the IPL matches in Mumbai maid the fears of contagion from the virus.

The Delhi government's refusal to allow any IPL matches in the city owing to the COVID-19 pandemic has added to the BCCI's woes with the Board now looking for alternate venues in "willing" states to conduct a closed-door edition.

The postponement of the tournament was in thick of things since the time Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said that the state government was in discussion with the BCCI to postpone the annual cricket tournament that features cricketing stars from across the world.

The first ODI between the two sides in Dharamsala was washed out. Both the sides had reached Lucknow on Friday.

IPL’s official broadcaster Star India is staring at big losses after the BCCI on Friday suspended the start of the tournament’s 13th edition this year from March 29 to April 15 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said in a statement that the escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak globally has forced it to cancel or postpone all tournaments from March 16 to April 12.

India captain Virat Kohli has urged his countrymen to take all necessary precautions in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic.

Kolkata Kight Riders co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan on Saturday said he is hopeful of the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding and a deferred IPL going ahead with all the necessary health precautions in place.

The BCCI on Friday suspended the IPL from March 29 to April 15 and also called off the ODI series against South Africa.

Suspended till April 15 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 13th edition of IPL can only be a truncated one provided the situation improves, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly said.

More than 77,000 people have recovered from it so far, mostly in China where the outbreak started late last year.

Recently, Team India captain Virat Kohli had also called upon people to "stay safe and vigilant" in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

The IOC's executive board will meet via conference call to prepare an "information exchange" ahead of a series of talks with athletes' representatives, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs), planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cricket Australia has not directed the players officially with its chief executive Kevin Roberts on Tuesday saying that players were individually contracted to their IPL teams and can make up their own minds to compete in the 2020 IPL or not.

In India, the shooting World Cup and Indian Open Golf has been postponed so far, while badminton's India Open was also deferred after the Badminton World Federation (BWF) suspended all World Tour and sanctioned events.

This year's 12-nation Copa America was also postponed until 2021 on Tuesday, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said.

If the Coronavirus goes on to postpone the Tokyo Olympics scheduled in July this year, it will hit yet another prominent sporting event after it delayed the Indian Premier League to April 15 from the scheduled March 29 start.

Coronavirus Scare: Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has released a video urging Indian citizens to fight the novel Coronavirus battle.

IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, while talking to PTI, said the body is closely monitoring the fast-evolving situation triggered by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 14,000 and infected over 300,000.

Olympics 2020 Japan: Canada announced that it would not participate in the Tokyo Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee said the decision on the Japan Olympics would come within weeks.

"Human lives take precedence over everything, including the staging of the Games." -- International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, announcing on Sunday that a postponement was under consideration.

IOC officials are studying a postponement, among other options, but they have said a decision would be "premature" four months from the scheduled start.

The world's richest cricket board has not yet pledged any donations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Ganguly said he will have a discussion with secretary Jay Shah to figure out the best possible option.

Japan has asked for a one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games over the global coronavirus pandemic, and the International Olympic Committee has agreed, the country's prime minister said Tuesday.

The Games were scheduled for July 24-August 9, but after telephone discussions between IOC president Thomas Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a historic joint decision was taken for the first postponement of an Olympics in peacetime.

The deadly COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented postponement as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Japanese government and the athletes world over agreed that Olympics in July-August this year could not have gone ahead in the present circumstances.

IOC President Thomas Bach said Wednesday that "all options are on the table" for new dates. He said next year's Olympics don't have to be restricted to summer in the Northern Hemisphere and might occur sooner.

The 2020 Olympics, which were set for July 24-August 9 this year, were postponed until 2021 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week because of the coronavirus.

"The captain is the boss, I always believe that. The job of the coaching staff, as far as I'm concerned, is to prepare the guys in the best possible way to be able to go out there and play brave, positive, fearless cricket," Shastri said.

Meanwhile, BCCI and its affiliated association states have decided to donate Rs 51 crore into the PM-Care fund to help in the fight against Covid-19.

In a statement posted on the body's Twitter handle, IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta said "we are deeply grateful to all the front-line workers who are risking their lives to fight this pandemic."

Akram also said that he listened to his gut feeling and former Pakistani captain, Imran Khan’s advice, to take Shahid Afridi on the tour to India when he was originally not supposed to be included in the squad.

Last week, the IOC and Japanese organizers postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Warner posted a time-lapse video from his official Insta account where he can be seen tonsuring his head with a trimmer in front of the mirror.

Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma has joined the list of celebrity donors who have donated money to tackle the onslaught of the Coronavirus. Sharma donated Rs 45 lakh to the PM Cares fund and sent Rs 25 lakh to the Maharashtra CM Relief fund.

Wimbledon was canceled on Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic, the first time since World War II that the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament won't be played.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has thanked India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his unflinching support to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Coronavirus in India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the COVID-19 situation with elite sportspersons of the country.

The IPL was scheduled to start on March 29 but the onset of Covid-19 and the subsequent suspension of visas by the Government of India till April 14 had left the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI with no other option but to postpone the event till April 15.