Elections force IPL shift

Seventh edition of the league partly moved out of India.

NEW DELHI: India has been forced to move part of its domestic Twenty20 cricket competition to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and possibly Bangladesh due to a clash with elections, organisers said Wednesday.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) season will start on April 16 just days after the beginning of the country’s general elections, a statement from the organisers said.

The Indian government has informed IPL organisers that security forces are needed for the world’s biggest elections, which run until May 12 and cannot be diverted for the cricket competition.



As a result, organisers have moved at least the first 16 matches to the UAE from April 16 to 30 at venues still to be decided, according to the tentative schedule.

The IPL season - which starts 10 days after the conclusion of the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh - ends with the final on June 1, the statement said. The second phase of the competition from May 1 to 12 could be held in Bangladesh if the Indian government rejects organisers’ request to hold matches in specific Indian states once polling there ends. The third phase of the tournament after May 12 will be held in India, with the provision that no match be organised on May 16, when vote counting and election results are expected to be announced.

The detailed schedule will be announced later, organisers said. The second edition of the IPL in 2009 had been shifted entirely to South Africa since the dates of the tournament also clashed with parliamentary elections that year.

ICC welcomes IPL relocation to UAE

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson welcomed the decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to stage IPL 2014 matches in the UAE.

“The BCCI’s decision to stage the first part of the IPL 2014 season in the UAE is great news for the people of the UAE and the region,” he said.

“This news comes on the back of the on-field success of the UAE national team which has qualified for both the ICC World Twenty20 2014 in Bangladesh and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand and has the potential to propel cricket’s profile to new heights in the country.”

Richardson, who is based in the UAE at the ICC headquarters in Dubai Sports City, said the International Cricket Council (ICC) was ready to support the successful staging of the IPL 2014 matches in its home country.

“Recognising the importance of the integrity of the competition, the ICC will provide its full support for the matches in the UAE, including through the provision of anti-corruption services.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2014.

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