Indian to International

The Indian Premier League was always an international league with many foreign cricketers being a part of it. The charm of the tournament was the concept of home and away matches, inter-city rivalry and the large crowds that turned out just to support their team (I went to see Delhi Daredevils twice and screamed my lungs out!).
This year around, IPL 2 has been moved out to South Africa due to the elections clashing with the matches in the states and the ministry of home affairs being incompetent of providing paramilitary forces for the protection of the players, specially after what the Srilankan cricketers faced in Pakistan. The league and Mr. Lalit Modi had just 2 options – either to scrap the league or move it out of the country. Scrapping the league was out of the question and thus came the big question: where would the league be held? The choices came down to England and South Africa as the two probable venues. England, which is the host of the ICC T20 World Cup this year, would have been a great venue and would have also offered the valuable match practice in ideal conditions. But the IPL would have clashed with the County Twenty20 which is scheduled to start on April 1. Also, the G20 summit, which is being held in England. required the presence of the London Police and this would have made life difficult in providing the ideal security cover for the cricketers. The weather conditions were also unfavourable with chances of 70% of the matches to be washed out. This led to South Africa being chosen as this year’s IPL venue.
South Africa, having hosted the T20 World Cup last year, know what is required to host such an event. Also, the conditions are just fine for a game of cricket. Keeping the logistics in mind, the cost for travelling would be greatly reduced however there would be a problem in the availability of hotels. The CSA board has readily agreed to host the IPL and Nicholls Steyn group will be providing the security cover. All matches will be held like last year at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. IST.
The selected cities to host the IPL this year are Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontain, Durban and Prot Elizabeth. Each stadium is supposed to get equal matches. The edition has also been truncated from 4 weeks to 3 weeks. That means that the IPL starts on 18 April and ends on 24 May with all the 59 matches being played. There will be no home or away game system this year. The league has certainly gone international!
Franchisees also have to now face a tough time sorting the money matters since they have lost on the dues they would have got had the league been held in India. They cannot afford to carry extra players who may sit out through the tournament.
Well then, the IPL is finally happening! Hope to see Delhi Daredevils crowned as champions this year around.