Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer in the special train. (Video grab)

NEW DELHI: The 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League took a dramatic and unprecedented turn on Thursday night as the high-stakes clash between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala was abruptly halted midway due to escalating border tensions between India and Pakistan.With security concerns mounting, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in coordination with Indian Railways, swiftly arranged a special train to evacuate players, staff, commentators, and broadcast crew from the region.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The BCCI shared visuals of the train journey on IPL’s official social media handles, thanking Indian Railways for their prompt support.Who’s that IPL player?“Thank you, @RailMinIndia, for arranging a special Vande Bharat train on such short notice to ferry the players, support staff, commentators, production crew members, and operations staff to New Delhi. We deeply appreciate your swift response,” the caption read.In the video, Delhi Capitals spinner Kuldeep Yadav added: “Jis tarah se manage kiya, woh bahut achcha tha. I want to say thank you to BCCI and Indian Railways.”WATCH:The match was called off after 10.1 overs, with players quickly transported by road to Pathankot, about 85 km away, where they boarded the special train to Delhi.“With rising threat levels and airports shut across the region, we are organising a special train from close to Dharamsala to bring everybody home safely,” said BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla on Thursday night. “Players’ safety is our utmost priority. The match couldn’t continue tonight due to the situation.”

On Friday, the BCCI suspended IPL 2025 for a week, leaving the fate of the remaining 16 matches uncertain.