A day after the terrorist attacks on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, the organisers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ministry of home affairs are discussing ways to ensure the schedule of the multi-crore cricket tournament is not unduly disrupted.
Top sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), organisers of the IPL, are considering a proposal under which no match will be held in a city five days before the election date in the location concerned and two days after, so that security forces have time to shift to other locations.
Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta confirmed that the government is in touch with BCCI and has asked them to come out with an alternative schedule. "We have apprised BCCI on the situation on the western and eastern borders. We are expecting a reply tomorrow," he said.
"We believe this arrangement would be fine," said a top BCCI official who did not want to be identified.
Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and BCCI vice-president, hinted that the cricket body was not inclined to argue with the government on the issue. Jaitley said, "We leave it to the government to decide on the dates of the IPL matches taking into consideration player security."
The dates for the IPL matches are currently scheduled between April 10 and May 24 and the elections will be held in five phases between April 16 and May 13.
Yesterday Home Minister P Chidambaram requested IPL to postpone the tournament to after the Lok Sabha elections so as not to stretch the para-military forces. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, however, said the matches would be on schedule, though they were willing to make changes to ensure that they don't clash with elections. Postponing the tournament is difficult because the cricket calender is blocked throughout the year and can be held only in January 2010.
The IPL league has over Rs 1,900 crore at stake for broadcasters, BCCI, players and the eight franchisees and advertisers.
Some franchisee owners and cricketers, however, are still unclear whether the foreign players (around 40 of them) will come for the tournament. In a statement to the press New Zealand cricketer Jacob Oram said there were doubts whether players from that country would attend. Chennai Kings, the team for which Oram plays, did not comment on the issue.
Other franchisees don't foresee any problems from foreign players. Said P K Iyer, managing director of the Deccan Chronicle group that owns the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers team: "We have dispatched the tickets and the itinerary to all foreign players in our team and all of them are coming."
