How well will IPL teams recover from the break?

Some teams have lost players, others have lost momentum but at this critical point, they will need to find a way to win matches

- Somshuvra Laha

KOLKATA: At the peak of his batting might, Don Bradman had to stay away from Test cricket for eight years because of the Second World War. By the time normalcy returned, Bradman was 38 but nowhere close to being done with the game. He went on to score eight hundreds in 15 Tests, averaging a surreal 105.72 while leading the Australian team that remained unbeaten in 32 matches during the 1948 tour of England.

The spectre of war can be cruel but also curiously galvanising. Its aftermath, however, can't always be dictated, especially in these days, and particularly for a tournament like the IPL that depends on multiple stakeholders. Key players have pulled out, venues have been changed, and more importantly, momentum has been lost. After the entire country was on edge for a week, will IPL 2025 prevail once again? Only time will tell.

The IPL has been postponed before, notably because of a pandemic that had held the world hostage for nearly two years. A week of escalating hostilities between India and Pakistan however felt equally grim, specifically on the day an ongoing IPL match (May 8) had to be abandoned in Dharamsala amidst reports of nearby Pathankot coming under fire. Details from the 'Willow Talk' podcast that had Alyssa Healy—Australian women's captain and wife of Mitchell Starc—filling in with more details, paints an even bleaker picture of what actually transpired behind the scenes.