The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had announced that the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), IPL 2019 will be held in whole in India only. They ruled out the possibility of holding the tournament overseas, as it will clash with the general elections in April-May.
The IPL 2019 will begin from March 23 and one of the biggest concerns are security arrangements. To overcome the issue, BCCI has reportedly decided to give just three home matches to franchises and shuffle rest of the fixtures around neutral venues in order to have adequate security.
As per Pune Mirror, the BCCI is expected to announce the formal schedule of the IPL 12 on February 2 or 3 along with a backup plan for a few matches. The management is planning things with the assumptions that the polls will start around the same time (April 7th), as it did the last time.
Also, it has been understood that the franchises have shown interest in playing at neutral venues – in cases where playing at home isn't possible due to security issues – rather than having the tournament hosted overseas. BCCI is supposed to come out with 5-6 neutral venues for organizing the tournament.
A senior BCCI official had told DNA, "It was basically to ensure adequate security for all matches if central government refuses to commit the same like two previous elections. The first objectivity was to keep the IPL in India. As the elections will be held in phases, so it should not be a problem for BCCI to find venues to suit both the teams as well as that particular state govt which has to provide the security.”
(timesnownews.com inputs)
