Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday blamed the Central and state governments and said they were “forced” to shift the Indian Premier League abroad.
“We tried our best to make sure that the IPL is held in India. However because of the attitude of the governments, particularly those of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, we were forced to move the event out of India. We are in discussion with other boards who have shown willingness to hold the IPL in their respective countries,” BCCI president Shashank Manohar said at a press conference at the Wankhede.
Manohar, while elaborating on the deliberations of the emergent working committee meeting, said that the governments of Maharashtra, where 18 matches were to be held as per the original schedule, and Andhra Pradesh went back on their promise to provide security.
“Unfortunately the chief minister of Maharashtra (Ashok Chavan) issued an order last evening saying that security cannot be provided until the Lok Sabha elections (due to be held in the state on April 30) … and the Andhra Pradesh government revoked its earlier permission to hold matches,” he said.
The decision to hold the league overseas is bound to have commercial implications for the IPL as well as the eight franchisees. The IPL has under-written whatever losses that might be incurred by the franchisees. “Revenue model is of no concern now. The issue is the integrity of the tournament, it’s about the continuity,” IPL commissioner and chairman Lalit Modi said. “The critical thing is that the Indians get to watch the matches at 4 m and 8 pm IST as they had been expecting.”
The tournament moving to another country would bring with it a few necessary changes. For instance, whereas the franchisees themselves managed their respective stadiums, this time it would be centrally handled by the IPL. Each of the franchisees would be allotted a “home venue”, though.
Similarly, the franchisees could carry as many number of players but the IPL “would try and limit” the same. Modi said that the IPL had “multiple venues in multiple countries” as an option but clarified that the tournament would be in one country.
ECB comment
At the request of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)/ Indian Premier League (IPL), ECB is examining the feasibility of hosting the 2009 IPL in England and Wales. This request has come to the ECB because of the impact of the timing of the general elections in India on the ability to stage the IPL in India. The IPL is scheduled to be played between April 10 and May 24, 2009, and officials from both the Boards have held exploratory discussions to relocate the tournament to England and Wales. Further meetings will be held during the forthcoming week.
CSA comment
We received an official approach this morning (Sunday) to be one of the several options they (BCCI/IPL) are considering to host the tournament outside India. We do not know what the other options are and it is not for us to comment on that. At this stage, we are looking forward to holding discussions with IPL officials to discuss the proposal in detail. It is a huge compliment to Cricket South Africa’s organisational skills, facilities and infrastructure that we are being asked to host another major international event.”
