MUMBAI: The much tom-tommed India Premier League, if at all it is held, ought to be renamed “Non-Resident Indian Premier League,” as the organizers, in order to get off their responsibilities at home, have decided to go abroad with the venture. After a lot of dilly-dallying between England and South Africa as the venues, the latter was finally agreed upon. The enormous bonanza accruing to everyone concerned, franchises, sponsors, TV rights owners and a handful of players, appears to have blinded them to the stark reality pertaining to the security and safety of these very people, not to mention the innocent spectators. By going abroad, the IPL Commissioner, Lalit Modi, as adamant and as cocky as ever, thinks he can shirk this heavy responsibility in just one stroke. But from all accounts, there seems to be no end to his woes.
In order to seek a grand excuse to move out of India, Lalit Modi could not have done worse than to politicize the issue. He and his colleagues in the BCCI have blamed the government for not promising adequate security for, hold your breath, some 59 matches spread over a dozen centers around the country and that too during the same time that the Parliamentary elections are being held in India. The developments thereafter were hasty rather than swift. The England and Wales Cricket Board, whom Modi had approached, were still contemplating the acceptance or otherwise of the gigantic event. When the top London Police officials expressed the department’s inability to provide foolproof security for the event at such a short notice. (The event was to kick off on April 10). If that is the position in London, what would have been the situation in the smaller cities in the UK?
The London Police Commissioner and the Scotland Yard Chief stated that a lot of work has to be done to prepare for the event. As it is, their calendar is full with so many major events in the offing. Then, there was the big problem of rain, the months of April and May being the wettest in those parts. If rain were to upset the IPL fixtures, the entire, close-knit cricket program in England, which includes the Twenty20 World Cup, two major Test and ODI series, against West Indies and Australia, would have gone completely haywire. So England thus because a difficult proposition and at the time of writing, South Africa had accepted the IPL proposal in toto, with a provision for a week’s postponement.
The starting date agreed upon is April 17.
Lalit Modi may have a huge sigh of relief. The same, however, cannot be said of several others connected with the event. The question to ask now is: what will the BCCI have achieved by this foreign shift?
First, not many people, including the Indian players, who make up 80 percent of the teams, are happy to play outside the country. But more importantly, what signal is this business of running abroad, going to send to the cricketing world in view of the World Cup that is to be held in the sub-continent in two years’ time?
