Mumbai: Mumbai Cricket Association’s promise to comply with all the conditions notwithstanding, the Indian Premier League’s governing council has decided that the June 1 final of the seventh edition of the tournament will be held in Bangalore as announced earlier.
“The governing council had a conference call Saturday night and after a lot of deliberation among the members, it was unanimously decided to stick to our earlier decision, that is to play the final in Bangalore,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said from Baroda on Sunday morning.
“One of the main reasons for the decision is that we don’t have time till Monday or Tuesday... A lot of preparations are needed for the final,” Patel added.
Other BCCI sources indicated that though the MCA had written to the IPL governing council that it would meet all the demands, a written permission from Mumbai police to allow bursting of fire crackers past 10pm was not provided.
[Sources had told this newspaper late on Saturday that on the request of Sunil Gavaskar, interim president (IPL matters) of the BCCI, the governing council was likely to give MCA two days’ time to get the No Objection Certificates from the local administration regarding the fireworks show and playing of loud music after 10pm on the final day.]
MCA secretary Nitin Dalal said that the permission would have been obtained in the coming week. “We had accepted all the demands. (Sharad) Pawarsaheb would have got the permission this week,” said Dalal, who said he was not aware of the governing council’s decision to keep the final in Bangalore.
MI are to play two home games at the Wankhede on May 23 and 25, while the Qualifier 2 on May 30 is also scheduled there. The Eliminator game of May 28 is to be held at the Brabourne Stadium.
MCA had on Thursday said it was even ready to lift the ban on the entry of Bollywood star and Kolkata Knight Riders’ principal owner Shah Rukh Khan into the Wankhede if the final is shifted back to Mumbai.
MCA vice-president Ravi Savant had said that they had accepted all the 14 demands put forward by the IPL’s governing council. (PTI)
