To assure that BCCI do not want to re-do a Lahore or witness another 26/11 and realizing that money in millions is not important than the security of human lives, Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament’s Chairman Lalit Modi has admitted that his own preference to hold the tournament is South Africa (SA) thus SA has surged into pole position in the race to host the IPL.
The previous prospect of the world’s best cricketers appearing in Indian Premier League matches in England appeared to recede, after officials landed in South Africa and indicated the country had moved into pole position to host the tournament.
Relevent to mention here that England’s credentials were cast into further doubt when it emerged that the England and Wales Cricket Board had not consulted police or intelligence services before going public with its willingness to host the tournament.
The IPL T-20 series started in 2008 with a bang, with millions of dollars being spent on the game of cricket made possible by the fusion of two of India’s best selling brands: Cricket and Bollywood. The IPL formula was a sure winner. Everything about the series was larger than life, it was a grand extravaganza. The team managements put every effort to reach out to the masses with theme songs being launched and team merchandise flooding the markets, all marketing made sure that India was hooked to the television sets last summer. The games were gripping and the results were unexpected with the underdog Rajasthan Royals storming to an unprecedented victory. There were the purist critics last year who damned the IPL, challenging it on ethical grounds, there was trouble brewing about the cheerleaders, with politicians calling them ‘immoral’ and ‘un-Indian’, there were rumours about a rift in many teams between the owners and the players. Yet all those troubles could not stop this entertainment bonanza from being a huge hit with the Indian masses. The story in 2009 looked a lot different with the series run into trouble regarding security issues.
Earlier, 59 IPL matches were due to be played in up to 14 Indian cities over a six-week period. The Lahore attack on cricketers on 3rd of March raised concern about security of national and international players within the country. This, together with the national elections that are to be held in five phases from April 16th to May 13th, is creating havoc in this year’s ‘recession-proof’ business opportunity. Lalit Modi, the IPL Chairman appeared confident last week in every interview that he gave to the media and yet after numerous meetings with the government officials, the deadlock has now been broken. The states are and were not ready to sacrifice any of their own forces during the election period and have also demanded paramilitary forces from the center. The response of the center has been far from encouraging as it says it cannot sacrifice any of its forces. The parliamentary election of the largest democracy is indeed took a toll on the game and it is not just a game … it’s about millions of dollars at stake. Thus the frenzy and the media attention.
The question that which will take precedence, has become clear after the series has been cancelled in India and now being organised in South Africa. With the shifting of venue from India, the losses would amount to millions for the franchise owners, advertisers and the players themselves. The decision taken is appreciable and the decision makers have cleared that these millions are not important than the security of human lives. So they have assured that they do not want to re-do a Lahore or witness another 26/11?
In between, the matter also took a political turn as the opposition party had claimed that cancellation of the game would send out a wrong message to the terrorists. It would mean an acknowledgement of their influence and acceptance of our fear if the IPL were to be cancelled. This stance however looks ridiculous and also insensitive if one views the situation from the perspective of the Mumbai blasts. The risks were too great to take and this attempt was a cheap ploy to politicize the issue of sport. If sport is secondary to the nation’s security then manipulative political maneuvers are also secondary to sports, this is however not to deny the influence of politicians in sport. The influence being entirely unwanted is another matter of course.
All we were hoping for a possible solution to this deadlock which finally arrived. The cricket fans or people like me who do not mind a power packed entertainment bonanza were praying that the issue would be solved without compromising on national security.
Efforts were also made with the rescheduling of the matches and changing the venues to smaller cities but finally it has been decided to shift the venue from India to South Africa.
Relevent to mention here that no person with any iota of sanity would give more importance to a game than human lives, leave alone hotel accommodation! Cricket in India means crowds and cricket with Bollywood in India means madness, so the decision which was, however, tough one and challenges have been faced by many, taken is more than good.
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