Mumbai: Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner and Chairman Lalit Modi on Tuesday announced that the Twenty20 championship will start from April 10 with a slight change in schedule.
Modi made the announcement at the official launch of the second season of the Twenty20 championship in Mumbai but completely sidelined the seriousness around it with the Lok Sabha elections and security worries post attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers.
However, IPL's refusal to involve the Federation of International Cricket Players Association (FICA) in discussions about security arrangements could well unsettle foreign stars who are slated to play in the Twenty20 carnival.
In the aftermath of the terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, many players are desperate for FICA to review security arrangements.
Representatives from players associations of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have joined their English and Sri Lankan counterparts in seeking direct involvement in the IPL's security management through FICA.
The IPL insists that players must satisfy themselves about security arrangements by talking to their franchises, the IPL or their home boards.
The elections and the attack on Sri Lankan players must have been giving Modi sleepless nights as the Twenty20 championship is his most ambitious business plan and was in danger of being derailed.
But Modi gave no hint of any discomfort as he addressed the media for 45 minutes and announced that the IPL will go on despite elections and terror threats.
"The quality of cricket and entertainment will defy the recession. Twenty-two lakh people attended (the matches). We had a 100 million fans who actually tuned in and guaranteed contracted revenue for the league is Rs 10,970 crore," said Modi at the press meet.
He also said the final schedule of the championship is being fine-tuned.
The picturesque cricket ground in Dharamsala will be the additional base centre for Kings XI Punjab. Ahmedabad and Vizagate are the other venues which will host matches to counter the clash of dates with the 15th Lok Sabha elections.
But the big issue of intelligence report that wanted match dates to be shifted has still not been resolved.
"Again this is a speculation that you have put into the mind. We have no such news and we are going to go ahead with our plans," Modi replied casually.
Modi also added that even the Lahore threats would not hinder the conduct of IPL.
"Let's not heighten the security situation in another country to be the same as in our country. Even after the blasts in our country we were prepared and we worked with our government and moved forward. It was matter of two weeks and after two weeks we did it. I don't see that as an issue," he said.
Modi will now have to come up with the tournament schedule as soon as possible but what is certain is that it will kick-off in Mumbai on April 10.
(With inputs from Roma Khanna and Amit Bose)
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