Industrialist and owner of Mumbai Indians, one of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket teams, Mukesh Ambani, today met Home Minister P Chidambaram and is understood to have discussed the schedule of the league’s second edition.

The meeting assumes importance as eight states have expressed their inability to provide security cover for the gala cricketing event in view of the dates overlapping with the general elections beginning April 16.

Ambani is also believed to have apprised Chidambaram about the losses that team franchisees would suffer if the league were to be postponed, sources said.

The spokesperson of Ambani-run Reliance Industries declined to comment.

In a statement yesterday, the home ministry had said it “may not be feasible to hold the matches according to the revised schedule submitted by them (IPL organisers)”.

The league was first postponed after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this month and, according to the revised schedule, it was to be held between April 10 and May 24.

Meanwhile, the IPL organisers are understood to have started the cumbersome process of re-working the dates in a bid to salvage the high-profile Twenty20 cricket event.

IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and CEO Sundar Raman, who air-dashed from Mumbai last night, spent the entire day in New Delhi, attending meetings to find a way out of the imbroglio.

“We are working on a new schedule. Hopefully, everything will be sorted out,” IPL Tournament Director Dhiraj Malhotra said.

But even as frantic discussions were on, IPL received another jolt with Bangalore Police declining to provide security cover for the tournament till May 3 and advised the organisers to hold all matches after May 4.

“Bangalore City police will not be in a position to give security for IPL matches till May 3 in view of commitments regarding Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 23 and April 30,” Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said.

However, Bidari said security could be provided if matches were played on May 4, 7, 10, 11, 14, 19 and 20, suggesting the organisers should reschedule the dates. According to the earlier schedule, drawn prior to the announcement of Lok Sabha polls, matches were to be played on April 14, 19, 23 and May 3, 7, 15 and 19.

An IPL source said: “We are constantly fine-tuning the schedule to address the concerns of all the states hosting the matches. It is a tight situation and, if need be, we may have to have three matches on a number of days or add some new venues to complete the event within the specific dates.”
Source: business-standard.com

Kevin Pietersen might pull out of the Indian Premier League on security grounds. The England cricketer is due to make his decision after talks with England and Wales Cricket Board officials and his IPL team, Bangalore Royal Challengers, after the fifth and final Test against the West Indies in Trinidad, which is due to end today.

The South Africa-born batsman was widely praised when, as England captain, he led his adopted country back to India after the Mumbai terror attacks.

But the attack on Monday last week on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore, which left eight Pakistanis dead, plus seven Sri Lankan players, an assistant coach and a Pakistani umpire, wounded, has heightened the safety fears of the world’s leading cricketers about playing in the sub-continent.

Pietersen was bought by the Royal Challengers for 1.55-million (R16.2-million), sparking a headline in the English tabloids the next day: Dumb Slog Millionaire.

“I will be consulting as many people as I can but if I don’t think it is right, then I will not be going,” Pietersen told the News of the World.

Source:thetimes.co.za

Johannesburg (IANS): South African cricketers will not be allowed to go to India for their IPL commitments if the security conditions there are deemed insufficient, the company responsible for their safety told the Afrikaans weekly Rapport.

“We are in daily contact with the Indian authorities and even though we are not in charge of stadium safety, we do look after the protection of the players,” said Robert Nicholls, director of Nicholls, Steyn and Associates, which controls player security during the IPL.

“If we feel that it does not comply with the standards, we will not allow the players to play there.”

Nicholls said the attacks on the Sri Lankan side in Lahore last week had been “a wake-up call for everyone.”

“Until recently, cooperation with Indian authorities was practically non-existent, but hopefully this will now change.”

Nicholls said one of the “biggest headaches” was the national elections taking place at the same time as the IPL, as there may not be enough security personnel to handle both events simultaneously.

“The problem with the law enforcers on the subcontinent and especially in India is that as soon as you ask them to heighten security measures, they just make more police officers available.

“Eventually you can have 60,000 officers, but it will help very little against a suicide bomber.”

South African captain Graeme Smith told Rapport that no “hasty decisions” would be taken. “We will rely heavily on the advice of Cricket South Africa and the safety consultants, but it is understandable that the guys do not want to return to the continent.

“There is an important tour to India for us next year and the IPL is just around the corner. Although there are serious objections to playing in places where you often risk your life, we must first wait to have all the information (before deciding),”Smith concluded.

Even though the IPL is very lucrative for South African players such as J P Duminy, who was snapped up for $1m by Mumbai Indians recently, Rapport quoted an unnamed player as saying that they would rather stay at home.

“I know of no player who is still seriously considering participation in the IPL. It’s not just Pakistan where you are constantly a target, but in many sub continental countries – just look at what happened in Mumbai (in November 2008).”
Source:hindu.com

New Delhi: Bollywood actress and co-owner of IPL team Rajasthan Royals Shilpa Shetty has expressed her disappointment that her cricket squad won’t be able to play at their own stable due to the rescheduling of the Twenty20 blitzkrieg.

The Indian cricketing extravaganza is being re-planned due to security issues after the recent attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan and also because its dates clashed with the Lok Sabha election schedule.

“It’s sad that we’re not going to be able to play in Jaipur, which happens to be our home ground, but I would like our Rajasthan fans to know that it was a decision that wasn’t left to us to take,” Shilpa posted on her blog early Sunday morning from Jaipur.

“We are just complying with the decision obviously that has been taken by the IPL board, the BCCI and obviously with the advice of the home ministry and the (Rajasthan) state government,” she added.

The “celebrity Big Brother” winner, who co-owns the team with beau Raj Kundra, is currently in Jaipur shooting team anthem “Halla bol”.

The actress was also upset with the attack on Sri Lanka crickters in Lahore.

“It’s really sad whatever has happened in Pakistan and what the Sri Lankan cricketers had to go through. It was a sad day for cricket. Hope we are able to overcome all of that and things are smooth sailing, and hope people don’t bring down the spirit of the game,” she wrote.

“Cricket is a game that brings together different countries and I hope we’re able to be good hosts (for IPL) here in India and give security to our cricketers and fans,” she added.
Source:cricketnext.in.com

The upcoming general elections, coupled with the bleak security situation following the attack on Sri Lankan players in Pakistan, had led to various speculations as regards the second edition of the Indian Premier League.

There were even talks that the IPL, which were scheduled during the same time as the elections, might as well be moved abroad to avoid security concerns. However, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, on Friday, refuted all the statements that are probably still making the rounds.

“IPL is on not moving abroad,” said Modi. “These are just speculations which are completely untrue.

“We are in discussing the various issues involved and will come out with a new schedule by next week.” Modi also expressed his gratitude to home minister P Chidambaram.

“I am thankful to him for his clarifications,” he said.

“The IPL dates won’t be shifted but there won’t be be any matches held held on days when counting of votes takes place.” The commissioner also refuted claims that some state governments have expressed their inability to provide the required security cover.

“The new schedule will be worked out in consultation with the various teams and state governments,” he said. “We have 14 cities available and of them, eight will be shortlisted.

“The number of days remain the same.”
Source: rediff.com

Confusion reigned on Thursday, with TV channels stating that the second Indian Premier League was off as the government wouldn’t provide security. Even as industry began counting losses, IPL officials denied the development.

Tournament director Dhiraj Malhotra told Hindustan Times the TV reports were “untrue”. “We have been working on the revised schedule. As far as we are concerned, the tournament is on. ”

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the Centre would not object if state governments took on the onus of making security arrangements from their own resources. It would, however, be a problem if the states needed central forces, a home ministry official said, saying the MHA could not divert forces from the election process.

The home ministry also said the government was yet to hear from the states on the matter. However some states have made their priorities clear. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Karunanidhi told reporters: “It is better to put on hold these matches than to regret later even if there is one untoward incident.”

Meanwhile, IPl chairman Lalit Modi emailed team owners, saying a revised schedule with the MHA and local administrations was being worked out.
Source:hindustantimes.com

Just when it seemed that the IPL had got a lifeline and a fighting chance at being held on time, there is a new obstacle.

The sources in the Home Ministry have now said that it will base its final decision about holding the IPL on “an overall security assessment” and on the fact that how many states are willing to handle security arrangements on their own because after the Lahore attack, security is the big concern for the Centre.

On Thursday, claiming that state security was enough, the ministry forwarded a BCCI letter to the top police officials of the states asking if they could provide security.

Sources said that the whole controversy took a new turn when some states asked the Centre for troops. And that is the tricky part.

The Home Minister had already made it clear that he can’t pull out any of the 75,000 troops from election duty or any others from the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders.

The IPL stakeholders and even the BCCI argue that they don’t need permission from the Centre and they are willing to reschedule some match dates but have refused to postpone the tournament till after the elections.

Some states like Punjab have said that they can provide security to IPL matches but only if they don’t give their personnel to the Centre for election duty. Thus, that may not be an option.

However, West Bengal has said that even the re-scheduled matches aren’t acceptable.

So, the Centre now has to take the final decision whether India’s biggest cricket tournament can be safely held along with the biggest political event, the general elections
Source:ndtv.com

IS Bindra, a member of the IPL governing council, has ruled out the possibility of moving this year’s Twenty20 extravaganza so it does not clash with India’s general elections in April. Bindra said the IPL would work with the government to find a way to host the tournament, but if that was not possible it would have to be cancelled.

“If the state administrations tell us they cannot handle the security, there is no way we can go ahead,” Bindra, who is also the ICC’s principal adviser, told the Hindustan Times. “But I’m sure it won’t come to that.”

The Indian government has expressed concerns over providing adequate security for the IPL since forces will have to be mobilised for the elections as well. A senior government official told Cricinfo that conducting the IPL during the country’s general elections presented a “near impossible situation” for security forces.

Bindra said the IPL would be advised on security matters by South African security consultants Nicholls, Steyn & Associates, who were brought in after the Jaipur blasts during last summer’s tournament. “We implemented their suggestion that control rooms, normally located in basements in Indian stadiums, were moved to places from where security supervisors could have a complete view of the grounds. It’s a detail that makes matters more foolproof.

“What they do is advise us on formulations and the overall security plan. Like whether a particular hotel is secure, how to best protect the teams etc.”

Bindra said the governing council had felt the security template for the Chennai and Mohali Tests between England and India, following the Mumbai terror attack, was very good. However those who have to provide the security aren’t too confident about it.

Kolkata police commissioner Gautam Chakraborty said he had requested the city’s IPL franchise to change the dates of matches during the polls. “All political parties will be doing their poll campaigning during that time,” Chakraborty said in the Kolkata-based Telegraph. “Then the Knight Riders match on May 13 clashes with Kolkata polling day. Also, there are two matches in between April 30 and May 7. It doesn’t matter that polls on these days will be conducted outside Kolkata. City police personnel are also deployed in the districts during polls.

“After the Lahore incident, we cannot take any chances. There will be multi-layered security checks. We are also trying to convince the concerned authority to sell match tickets online to avoid scuffles outside the ticket counters.”

Ardhendu Sen, the state’s home secretary, said holding IPL matches on the days of the polls was out of the question. “As far as security arrangements for matches on other days, it would be up to the police commissioner to decide,” Sen said.
Source:cricinfo.com