This should put an end to speculations over shifting of this cash-rich tournament out of India, like the way it was done during the 2009 and 2014 elections.
As this year's Indian Premier League's (IPL) schedule was bound to clash with Lok Sabha elections, the tournament dates have been advanced and about 20 venues across the country have been short-listed to the host the matches.
This should put an end to speculations over shifting of this cash-rich tournament out of India, like the way it was done during the 2009 and 2014 elections. This was made clear during the meeting of Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) on Tuesday where a decision was reached to hold the IPL 2019 between March 23 and May 12. Usually IPL begins in the second week of April and goes on till May end.
Going by an insider's account, venues like Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Cuttack, Rajkot, Guwahati, Raipur, Indore and Dharamsala are likely to host IPL games apart from the regular cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mohali, Jaipur and Hyderabad.
The final dates will only be announced after elections' schedule.
Vinod Rai-led COA stated that the decision was taken based on the preliminary discussions with the appropriate central and state agencies as the IPL dates coincide with the general elections, whose dates are yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India.
Though the poll dates are not expected before the second half of February, DNA has reliably learnt that BCCI has informed all the eight teams (franchise holders) that at the most each team will only get to play a minimum of three matches at their designated home, while the rest will be chosen by the IPL Governing Council (GC) based on the election dates.
There were discussions within the BCCI to take this year's tournament abroad — to either South Africa or the UAE. "It was basically to ensure adequate security for all matches if central government refuses to commit the same like two previous elections," a senior BCCI official told DNA on Tuesday.
While the BCCI had kept South Africa and UAE as alternate options in case central government refuses to provide adequate security for the matches due to elections, the talks with Ministry of Home (MOH) was also simultaneously going on. It is learnt that cricket board got encouraging signals from the MOH, where it was told to come up with a concrete plan.
Soon, BCCI tabled a plan involving multiple cities and flexible dates to ensure "no clash" with elections in any particular city. The central government apparently has accepted the proposal and has given BCCI the green signal to go ahead with final preparations.
"The first objectivity was to keep the IPL in India. As the elections will be held in phases, so it should not be a problem for BCCI to find venues to suit both the teams as well as that particular state govt which has to provide the security," stated an official.
This certainly will be a bonanza for many state units which has not got a chance to host matches of such a high profile tournament.
This certainly means that no host city will be able to host all home games this year. But there will be no complaints as going abroad means a huge hole in pockets.
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