BCCI to decide on IPL venue after schedule for Lok Sabha polls comes out

NEW DELHI: The cricket control board will firm up the venue and dates for this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) only after the Election Commission announces the schedule of the general elections, a top executive has said. IPL commissioner Ranjib Biswal said on Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) will prefer to hold most of the tournament within the country. He said it is likely that the tournament will return to India after May 11, by when the election process is likely to have been completed, giving it a little over 20 days in the country.


His comment follows Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s statement last week that the government will not be able to provide a security cover for the matches while the elections are on, forcing the cricket board to scout for alternate venues for the T20 tournament.

“The board wants most games to be played in India, so a decision will be taken only after elections dates are announced,” Biswal said after a meeting of the BCCI’s working committee in Bhubaneswar.

The Election Commission is widely expected to announce the poll schedule in a few days. Biswal said the board is considering three options — South Africa, the UAE and Bangladesh — to hold the initial part of the tournament if it clashes with the election dates. T20 organisers have a window of April 9 to June 3 for this year’s tournament. He said the cricket boards of Bangladesh and the UAE have shown interest in organising the tournament.

He said South Africa is still a preferred option, as it had successfully hosted IPL in 2009, but since a large part of the tournament, including the playoffs, will be played in India, the other two options closer home are also being considered.

Moving half the tournament overseas will impact revenues for teams, sponsors as well as BCCI itself—2009 was the only year when IPL did not make a profit. Teams expect to lose 40-50% of revenue if half the tournament is moved out of India.