IPL told to reconsider dates again
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The Indian government has asked the IPL organisers to reconsider segments of the revised schedule that had been sent to them for approval. The home ministry wants some of the dates to be changed in order to avoid a clash with the general elections.
"The MHA (ministry of home affairs) is advising the IPL organisers that it may not be feasible to hold the matches as per the revised schedule submitted by them on March 7, 2009. The IPL organisers have been advised to accommodate the concerns of various state governments and draw up a revised schedule and submit the same to the MHA," a ministry statement said.
N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary who also owns the IPL team, Chennai Super Kings, said he believed the government had not rejected the revised schedule. "But we will be rescheduling it," Srinivasan said.
Under the revised schedule, there was a minimum gap of up to 48 hours - six to seven days in some cases - before and after the election at any specific venue. This was to ensure the matches still take place inside the original April 10-May 24 window but not clash with the election dates.
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and IPL CEO Sundar Raman are expected to hold discussions with home ministry officials in Delhi in an attempt to salvage the high-profile event.
A home ministry release said Delhi, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka and Rajasthan had either asked for a rescheduling of the IPL dates or demanded more central paramilitary forces (CPMFs) to cope with the elections and the tournament.
While Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, home to the Deccan Chargers, said they would be unable to provide security during the entire election period (April 16 to May 13), Karnataka expressed its inability to provide security for the Royal Challengers' two home matches scheduled in Bangalore on April 11 and May 14.
West Bengal and Punjab agreed to provide security as long as they were not required to release state police personnel for election duties. West Bengal have also requested for an additional 30 companies of central paramilitary forces for the Kolkata Knight Riders' match on May 4.
Punjab indicated it would be unable to have security measures in place for the matches in Mohali on May 1 and May 17 and asked for five additional companies of central forces on other match days. Rajasthan and Maharashtra, which would host the Mumbai Indians at Mumbai and Nagpur, said they would be able to provide security only if additional companies of central forces are deployed on match days.
But Tamil Nadu, home to the Chennai Super Kings, said it would have adequate security since its matches would take place only after elections are over in the state.
Andhra Pradesh, which will host matches at Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, heads for polls on April 16 and 23. Delhi goes to elections on May 7, West Bengal on April 30, May 7 and 13 and Punjab on May 7 and 13.
"We had submitted a reworked schedule on March 7. Andhra Pradesh only raised their doubts yesterday. But rationally we would be looking at reworking a new schedule," Dhiraj Malhotra, IPL tournament director, said.
Player count up for IPL second season
The IPL has released the final squad lists of the eight franchises even as doubts persist over the staging of the league's second season. A total of 263 players have been picked - 73 more than in the first year - indicating that the franchises have cast their net wider this time.
The teams have had more time to scout for talent this year compared to the last-minute exercise the first time around. They have also got to pick as many players as they want since the IPL imposed no limits. Even so, most teams number around 25, except Kolkata Knight Riders which has submitted a staggering 56 names - more than double that of Delhi Daredevils, who have the smallest squad at 24 players. But Kolkata are waiting for their coach John Buchanan to arrive on March 17 and prune the squad to 25.
If the inaugural edition of the IPL was a grand success, this year it has attracted contracted revenues of more than Rs 10,000 crore - Rs 1725 crore more than last year - thus beating the recessionary trends across the globe. Likewise, the teams have increased their expenditure and roped in more players from abroad as well as India - there are 80 overseas players compared to 66 in 2008 while there are 59 more Indians than the 124 who played last year.
Being a domestic tournament, one of the IPL's objectives has been to focus on local talent. In this regard, most teams decided to leverage the potential by organising talent-scouting camps around the country which threw up some unique talent.
One such case is Sanju Samson, probably the youngest player in the tournament at 14-and-a-half. A wicketkeeper-batsman from Kerala, Samson impressed the Kolkata scouts with his "giant' potential. And even if he eventually fails to make final squad, the team wants to provide Samson exposure to the big league.
