IPL News (6th March 2009)

• India safe: Home minister Mr. P Chidambaram said that India is a safe venue for cricket matches.

• Matches to be played in Rajsthan are most likely to be shifted to a different date.

• Decision on IPL match rescheduling is likely next week.

• Rescheduling unavoidable: Home minister PChidambaram said that rescheduling of IPL matches is inevitable because of the security concerns because of the elections overlapping.

• IPL, a domestic affair: IPL chairman Lalit Modi has rubbished reports and speculations of a possibility of IPL matches being held outside India. He asserted that IPL is an Indian tournament and a domestic affair and will only be played in India.

• Possible Lashkar link to attack: There is a possible link of terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba in the attcck on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore near Gaddafi stadium. Reports in Pakistan are ruling out possibilities of involvement of Sri Lanka based LTTE and RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) of Indian intelligence.

• IPL duration the same: IPL supremo Lalit Modi has confirmed that theh duration of the second edition of IPL will be the same as was decided before. Only dates for some matches will be changed.

• No matches during counting day: Lalit Modi told that there would be no matches during the day on which votes will be counted. He said that whilst there can be matches during the election time during non-voting days, counting will be on nationwide. Thus the decision.

• Grateful to government: Modi said that he is grateful to government and home minister P Chidambaram for assuring security for IPL matches. He also ruled out the postponment of IPL tournament and said that there will be only some rescheduling.