Organisers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the government have agreed on holding the Twenty20 cricket tournament along with the Lok Sabha elections in April-May, but with some changes in venues and dates.
The problem arose after the terrorist attacks on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore earlier this week, after which the Union home minister expressed concern over providing simultaneous para-military security cover for both the elections and the tournament.
The IPL is scheduled between April 10 and May 24, while the five-phase general elections are scheduled on April 16, 23, 30, May 7 and 13.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the organiser of the IPL, today said it was not only changing the dates of the matches that coincided with the days when the polling would be held, but also considering another seven venues for holding the matches, in addition to the eight chosen earlier.
The new venues being considered are Indore, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam, among others. According to the present schedule, the cities where the matches will be held are New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
However, franchisee team owners are unsure about how the shifting of venues will impact the gate-fee collections in the teams’ home towns. Under the IPL format, there are eight city-based teams, with each city hosting five to seven matches in the 45-day tournament. “Shifting the venue of the IPL matches out of the home city will be a logistical nightmare. I do not know how the gate-fee collections will be shared between the home town and the alternative venue,” Amrit Mathur, chief executive, GMR-Delhi Daredevils, told Business Standard.
Earlier today, Home Minister P Chidambaram said India was a safe country to play cricket. “Nobody needs to worry about playing cricket in India or safety of anyone. But some re-scheduling of IPL matches seems unavoidable,” he said. Sources in the IPL say this comment makes clear that the matches will go ahead.
Speaking to the press in Mumbai, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi made the same point. “We are not Pakistan. It’s extremely safe to play cricket here and the IPL is on schedule.”
Modi said no IPL ties would be held anywhere on May 16, when the counting of votes takes place. “We have 14 cities available to host the matches and are in the process of shortlisting eight of these,” he said.
Modi reiterated there will be no matches at any place on the day of the polling in that place. He, however, made it clear that there would be no reduction in the number of matches from the earlier schedule. “We will release the revised schedule once it’s ready,” he said.
Reporters in Lucknow asked the visiting Chief Election Commissioner, N Gopalaswami, to comment on the issue. “My priority and concern is the general elections and I don’t know anything about the IPL. Let those who organise it decide its fate,” he said.
