Amidst India-Pakistan tensions, Jammu & Kashmir's CM plays cricket while visit to LoC relief camps

Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, was spotted playing cricket with a child at a relief camp along the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday, May 9. The light-hearted clip featured Abdullah first observing the child bat before having the boy bowl while he batted. The National Conference leader was visiting relief camps and hospitals in Jammu and Samba.

He was also critical of the unprovoked cross-border strikes conducted by Pakistan with drones, missiles and shelling in India's Jammu and Poonch districts.

"We did not create this situation. Our people were attacked in Pahalgam, and innocent civilians were killed. We had to respond," stated Abdullah, as quoted by The Indian Express.

Sirens blared and blackouts were enforced across parts of J&K, Punjab,  Rajasthan, and Gujarat after Pakistan launched drones, missiles, and shells on military sites along the expanse of the western border. Pakistan's attempts come in the wake of India's retaliation for Operation Sindoor, which they perceived as a direct attack on their civilians.

The reverberations of the ongoing heated state of affairs between the two nations has had an impact on IPL 2025 as well. The latest development on the situation of the 18th edition of the IPL is that it has been postponed for a week by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Match 58 of the ongoing season was called off due to a technical failure in one of the floodlights of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. However, it was later learned that the BCCI took a call of pausing the tournament due to the current escalating standoff between the two countries.

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Other than Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, and Chennai Super Kings, every other side played 11 games up until the point of suspension. Interestingly, no side had secured their berth to the playoffs even after reaching this deep into the round-robin stage.