The second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will not be held in India. At the BCCI working committee meeting today in Mumbai, a decision was taken to stage the tournament outside the country "because of the extraordinary situation existing this year." This is what a press release from the IPL board had to say "Under the given circumstances, the BCCI is not in a position to either play a truncated IPL or to cancel the second edition of the IPL. It is a matter of great regret that, in the prevailing atmosphere, where the government is expressing concern for providing security to the IPL matches, the BCCI is left with no other option but to conduct the Indian Premier League in another country"
Now England and South Africa have emerged as the front runners to host IPL. South Africa board chairman has said that they are ready to host the event if approached. And IPL has confirmed that the schedule remains the same. This comes as a huge blow to the fans in India who were eagerly waiting for the month of April. Though the tournament is set to go on, I doubt if it will we as successful as the last years edition. But the IPL board might have had little choice as elections are approaching this year. But those who might be affected are the stakeholders. I doubt if sponsors will be pumping in the cash to the same extent as they did last year. Modi has confirmed that dates and timings of the matches will remain the same. The Indian audiences can watch the matches at 4 pm and 8 pm IST as they did in the inaugural season.
