NEW DELHI: IPL just lost some more cheer. GMR, the franchisee of Delhi Daredevils, has decided to ‘‘do away’’ with cheerleaders for the rest of the IPL season. ‘‘The focus should be on cricket rather than entertainment. And the entertainment should be such that it blends with cricket,’’ said a GMR official.

In what is being seen as a reaction to the recent protests in Maharashtra by some political parties against the presence of the ‘‘obscenely dressed’’ cheerleaders in IPL games, the franchisees mulled over the issue for two weeks before arriving at the decision.

As a result, the cheerleaders, who were flown in from London and other parts of Europe before the start of the tournament, are being sent back to their respective countries. But GMR hopes that although it had to do away with the cheerleaders for this season, it will get them back next season.

However, fans who throng Ferozeshah Kotla on Wednesday night for the Daredevils-Royal Challengers match, will not be completely deprived of action on the cheerleading front. Because, according to sources, Washington’s Redskins, the Bangalore team’s cheerleaders, will perform during the game.

‘‘As time passed by, we realized cheerleaders were perhaps not needed. We want people to come and appreciate only cricket and not anything else. But I also hope that we can get them (cheerleaders) back for the next season. And hopefully they will play a bigger role next time around. This time we didn’t have much time to draw up an itinerary for them,’’ said Shriram Ramdas, in charge of entertainment at GMR.

Source: ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com