No IPL in India

knoughtyd

IPL to be played outside India

The second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will not be held in India. At the BCCI working committee meeting today in Mumbai, a decision was taken to stage the tournament outside the country "because of the extraordinary situation existing this year."

The Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held outside India due to security concerns, BCCI President Shashank Manohar said on Sunday in a press conference.

"Due to the Government's attitude that they can't provide us with proper security, especially in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, we have moved the IPL out of India," Manohar said.

“We are in discussion with other Boards who are willing to host the event. I apologise to the people of India for moving the tournament out," Manohar added.

"Under the given circumstances, the BCCI is not in a position to either play a truncated IPL or to cancel the second edition of the IPL. It is a matter of great regret that, in the prevailing atmosphere, where the government is expressing concern for providing security to the IPL matches, the BCCI is left with no other option but to conduct the Indian Premier League in another country," the board stated in a media release.

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, who was present at the working committee meeting said there will be no changes made to the tournament's format or the schedule. "All 59 games will happen as per schedule, with the first game to be played at 4:00 pm IST and the second game beginning at 8:00 pm IST," he said. An official announcement is expected soon.

England,New Zealand and South Africa have emerged as the frontrunners to host the event, an IPL official said. Discussions between the BCCI and the respective boards will get underway and a decision is likely in two to three days.New Zealand and England are being considered as an alternative because their domestic sports season has come to an end. South Africa is the most likely host because their stadiums are the best for IPL matches.

patch01

It's official............. damn, that's sad

I think it'll go to SA, although what they say about England & NZ is a possibility.....

Certainly Australia isn't in the hunt, because football season, (for all four codes) is well and truly underway.... so the grounds are taken.....

Musketeer

Anyways IPL will b played..........This is good!

Zeus

It was expected. Playing in India would have been a disaster, I'm glad the right decision has been made

IPL in SA would be fun, especially the grounds were excellent during the WC and let's not forget, the girls and fun

honeybee

England favourites to stage IPL
England may be in pole position to stage the Indian Premier League (IPL), now that security fears have forced the event out of its home nation, but any transfer will not be straightforward.
There are several logistical problems, apart from finding hundreds of hotel rooms at short notice for the players and support staff, in trying to shoe-horn the lucrative April 10-May 24 Twenty20 tournament, featuring 59 fixtures, into the English cricket calendar.

IPL chiefs, who are also considering South Africa and Sri Lanka as alternative venues ahead of a final decision expected in the next couple of days, are attracted to England for several reasons.

Among these are the quality of grounds, the relatively short distance between venues and the strong support for Asian teams in and around the country's major cities, which are also home to test match grounds that could stage fixtures.

However, if the likes of Headingley and Edgbaston are to put on IPL matches, counties such as Yorkshire and Warwickshire would have to move scheduled home fixtures to out-grounds.

"I think that all county clubs would be interested but the logistical issues in such a short space of time would be tough," Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan told Monday's edition of The Times.

"How would we sell tickets, how do we accommodate the IPL sponsors and how do we organise security? My heart would say yes, let's do it, my head would say it probably wouldn't be possible."

The latter weeks of the IPL tournament will clash with England's two home tests against the West Indies.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has a contract with Sky TV for the broadcast rights of domestic matches in England, including tests. However, Sky's satellite rival Setanta has the rights to the IPL. That may lead Sky to seek compensation from the ECB if it agrees to stage the IPL.

England, which saw its plans for staging Twenty20 events in partnership with Allen Stanford that might rival the IPL collapse when the Texan businessman was accused of a multi-billion dollar fraud by US authorities, is already due to host the World Twenty20 tournament, a competition for full international teams, from June 5.

Staging the IPL would allow some of the world's best players to acclimatise to English conditions before that event.

Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer, who lives in England, told Sky Sports: "Everything fits in beautifully. We've got the infrastructure to hold the World Twenty20 a month later, so why not have the IPL here?"

Whether large crowds will come to grounds for matches that will start in the morning and early afternoon English time, to fit in with Indian television schedules, remains uncertain.

But IPL commissioner Lalit Modi believes the lure of a big cash injection is likely to overcome any problems.

"The IPL is a big competition," he said. "We would bring around $100 million of revenue to the British economy and anybody in a recession would want to have us."

And yet, according to a plan put forward last year, English cricket would have made even more money if the go-ahead had been given to a nine-franchise team tournament modelled on the IPL.

Then, a combination of the self-interest of England's 18 first-class counties and the ECB's involvement with Stanford sunk the scheme while it was still on the drawing board.

What no-one could have anticipated then was that the IPL itself might come to England.

Ninja

^ Thats old news

According to the latest developments South Africa has emerged the front runner to host the second edition of the IPL. It was earlier believed that hosting the IPL in england would actually help to prepare for the T20 world cup that would follow the IPL. However the IPL organizing committee believed that there are chances of many matches getting disrupted due to rain if the IPL was hosted in England. The official confirmation would be made later today.

Saiyan

Good Riddance

honeybee

Originally Posted by Ninja

^ Thats old news According to the latest developments South Africa has emerged the front runner to host the second edition of the IPL. It was earlier believed that hosting the IPL in england would actually help to prepare for the T20 world cup that would follow the IPL. However the IPL organizing committee believed that there are chances of many matches getting disrupted due to rain if the IPL was hosted in England. The official confirmation would be made later today.

On world of sports just 10 minutes ago, the decision will be made on wednesday. England although a strong contender, rain could be a mojor factor, affecting many games. So it could be SA.
I see supersport are a bit behind on information.

knoughtyd

South Africa emerges IPL frontrunner

In a swift turnaround, South Africa has overtaken England as the preferred venue to host the IPL next month. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, was flying to South Africa on Monday night to meet with senior officials of the South African government and an announcement is expected on Wednesday.

Weather turned out to be the principal factor that swayed the BCCI officials, a bulk of whom had been in favour of England till this morning when the realisation occurred that rain could seriously affect "as many as 70% of the matches" in the Twenty20 tournament which runs from April 10 to May 24.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) summoned their provinces to a teleconference on Monday afternoon, where they were updated on the latest IPL developments. "We have been told to expect a decision by Wednesday morning," said a South African provincial official with knowledge of the conference call. "We have had some early discussions about what we might need to do to prepare for this, but as far as we are aware, no final decisions have been made."

Another reason for England's chances receding is that the BCCI has been wooed actively by top officials in the South African government and CSA, who have all promised to lay out the red carpet for the tournament, well placed sources told Cricinfo.

"The weather in South Africa seems to have become the deciding factor," the sources said. "Besides, South Africa is working out to be a much cheaper option. The South African government's interest in hosting the event is a major factor, too."

South Africa is also considered a better option when it comes to TV timings when compared to England. For instance, the IPL wants to start its first match of the day at 4 pm IST, which would mean a 11.30 am start in England. In South Africa it would be a 12.30 pm start. The TV rights scenario is also less complicated in South Africa as Supersport owns the rights both for the IPL and for international cricket played in the country.

Modi and Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive, are known to enjoy a good personal relationship, especially after the two boards became founding partners of the Twenty20 Champions League last year. It is believed that such a rapport would prove crucial in organising a tournament of this magnitude at such short notice. "This gives both the boards a lot of room for negotiations, adjustments and quick decisions, something that may not be possible with the ECB, which has to go by its board for almost every decision," the sources said.

Majola, though, spoke cautiously on Monday evening when asked to assess South Africa's chances of hosting the IPL's second season. "Until I meet with Mr Modi and BCCI officials and know exactly what they want and how they think this should proceed, then I cannot say where we stand," Majola told Cricinfo. "It has been strangely quiet since we were first asked by officials from the BCCI and IPL whether we can assist them, and to the best of my knowledge we remain just one of the options out there. We are interested in assisting, but we have not heard anything further."

Shaun Pollock, the former South African captain and current advisor to the Mumbai Indians, said he would be open to serving as a conduit between his IPL franchise and the KwaZulu-Natal board if approached. Pollock is currently in Durban with eight members of the Mumbai squad for a pre-season training camp.

"I would love the Mumbai Indians to come to Durban," Pollock told Cricinfo. "But, having said that, I don't know who will decide which franchise goes where, or even if (the IPL) will come here. It's hard to know at the moment. One person tells you it's 60-40 in South Africa's favour and another tells you it's 60-40 to England. But if it were to come here, I would be happy to help Mumbai if they were interested in basing themselves in my home area and conditions."

As of Sunday evening, England had emerged as the preferred venue to host the tournament after a powerful lobby within the BCCI and the Indian team management felt that such a move would help in preparing for the World Twenty20 in June.

However, that decision was almost entirely dependent on the ECB overcoming considerable obstacles related to costs and logistics and the approval of its stakeholders, including the counties, many of whom fear that their domestic schedule will be affected by the IPL.

I personally would prefer the matches to be in Southafrice

coz England climate always tends to be overcast and U dont get that feel of watching cricket for eg1999 WC looked dull,overcast clouddy conditions,while Southafrica is

babes all around the ground..who needs cheerleaders

xXx

Yesterday I heard that The board is favoring England, as there's gonna be 20-20 to be played later on in the same country, so Indian players can get a bit of practice on those grounds