Ready with back-up, IPL tells teams

With reports of security threat increasing by the day, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has written to the franchisees stating that it is ready with back-up plans. The IPL says it can shift matches at a short notice just like last year when it moved the meet  out of the country ‘within 23 days’.

On Tuesday, there were reports of threats from Al-Qaeda to the
league. “If in a worst case, a certain venue/city/state turns a problem — we have back-up plans to shift all matches to alternative states and venues. Our objective remains to work things out with one and all and we will work to ensure we protect all stakeholders,” Lalit Modi said in a letter, which is in DNA’s possession.

“Like last year when within 23 days we were able to move continents, this time we have planned for all and every eventuality as a back-up. The show will go on,” the IPL chief wrote.

Without going into the details of threats, Modi said the IPL is seized of the developments. “The IPL Governing Council is fully seized of all the happenings and want to assure you that our objective is to ensure the IPL takes place across the country with all contracted players participating,” he said.

He further said, “... renewed security concern is being voiced regarding the IPL 3 from various quarters. There are many speculations that ‘xyz’ players of different nationalities will not be able to play in a particular city. These are all unsubstantiated news. I would advise you to ignore the same.”

A franchisee official said they are  satisfied with the assurances from the IPL authorities. “They have addressed our concerns. We cannot talk about Al-Qaeda threats. It is a government’s concern as well,” V Shankar, chairman of Deccan Chargers, said.

The Chargers official has confirmed that his side has withdrawn threat of pullout from the league after settling theier ‘home’ matches issue with the IPL.

The defending champions have been allowed to host two of their home matches at Cuttack, which is the franchisee’s catchment area. Of the remaining five, two will be held in Mumbai and other three in Nagpur.

“It is a satisfactory arrangement. If the security situation improves we can host our home matches in Hyderabad. The Andhra Pradesh government has invited the IPL and the BCCI to inspect the situation in the State,” Shankar added.