Mumbai: It's official. Season two of the Indian Premier League will be played outside India. The final schedule and venue will be announced on Monday.
The high-profile Twenty20 tournament might be held in some other country, possibly England, after a BCCI working committee meeting decided to shift the tournament out of India.
The tournament will have all the 59 matches that were originally scheduled for the IPL. South Africa also appears to be in the reckoning to host the tournament.
"My apologies to the people of India, who have loved this game and who have given us huge support, that we are not able to hold this event in India," BCCI President Shashank Manohar said after a high-level meeting between officials.
The extraordinary circumstances finally brought out an extraordinary solution - the BCCI brought the suspense over the second edition of the IPL to an end as they declared it will now be taken outside India.
"We are sorry that we have to move the IPL out of India," IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said. "We would have loved to, we have tried over a hundred iterations to convince them. But unfortunately, because of the clash with election dates we could not do it. But at the same time, people will be able to watch it on television in their homes."
With the Government playing hardball on the security issue with less than three weeks for the tournament to start, this was perhaps the only feasible option for the BCCI to go ahead with its billion dollar league.
"Because of the attitude of the government, that they are not in a position to provide security, particularly by the state of Maharashtra and the state of Andhra Pradesh, we were forced to take a decision to move the event out of India," Manohar said.
And now that the wheels have been set in motion, the IPL isn't wasting anymore time on taking a final call on its new destination.
"Our teams (IPL officials) are moving to various countries from tomorrow night to explore (our options) and we will have a final schedule as to which country we are going to be in by tomorrow evening," Modi said.
Sources say England and South Africa are the front-runners to play hosts. England is said to be the preferred venue, although the South Africans are keen as well.
"If the BCCI needs help on matters, we normally talk to each other, and we'd be delighted to help if we can," England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke said.
An official statement from Cricket South Africa, on the other hand, said: "We received an official approach this morning to be one of several options they are considering to host the IPL outside India. At this stage we are looking forward to holding discussions with IPL officials to discuss the proposal in detail."
Last year the IPL shattered the myth that the Indian fans only supported their national team. Now, the IPL bosses are hoping the cynical view that the tournament simply cannot succeed unless its played in India will be proved wrong.
Source:http://cricketnext.in.com/news/bcci-pulls-the-plug-takes-ipl-out-of-india/39304-13-1.html
The high-profile Twenty20 tournament might be held in some other country, possibly England, after a BCCI working committee meeting decided to shift the tournament out of India.
The tournament will have all the 59 matches that were originally scheduled for the IPL. South Africa also appears to be in the reckoning to host the tournament.
"My apologies to the people of India, who have loved this game and who have given us huge support, that we are not able to hold this event in India," BCCI President Shashank Manohar said after a high-level meeting between officials.
The extraordinary circumstances finally brought out an extraordinary solution - the BCCI brought the suspense over the second edition of the IPL to an end as they declared it will now be taken outside India.
"We are sorry that we have to move the IPL out of India," IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said. "We would have loved to, we have tried over a hundred iterations to convince them. But unfortunately, because of the clash with election dates we could not do it. But at the same time, people will be able to watch it on television in their homes."
With the Government playing hardball on the security issue with less than three weeks for the tournament to start, this was perhaps the only feasible option for the BCCI to go ahead with its billion dollar league.
"Because of the attitude of the government, that they are not in a position to provide security, particularly by the state of Maharashtra and the state of Andhra Pradesh, we were forced to take a decision to move the event out of India," Manohar said.
And now that the wheels have been set in motion, the IPL isn't wasting anymore time on taking a final call on its new destination.
"Our teams (IPL officials) are moving to various countries from tomorrow night to explore (our options) and we will have a final schedule as to which country we are going to be in by tomorrow evening," Modi said.
Sources say England and South Africa are the front-runners to play hosts. England is said to be the preferred venue, although the South Africans are keen as well.
"If the BCCI needs help on matters, we normally talk to each other, and we'd be delighted to help if we can," England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke said.
An official statement from Cricket South Africa, on the other hand, said: "We received an official approach this morning to be one of several options they are considering to host the IPL outside India. At this stage we are looking forward to holding discussions with IPL officials to discuss the proposal in detail."
Last year the IPL shattered the myth that the Indian fans only supported their national team. Now, the IPL bosses are hoping the cynical view that the tournament simply cannot succeed unless its played in India will be proved wrong.
Source:http://cricketnext.in.com/news/bcci-pulls-the-plug-takes-ipl-out-of-india/39304-13-1.html
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