The cricket news has reflected the back and forth by cricket players and their respective boards about their availability for the
IPL matches for a while now. Due to national team commitments many players such as Ricky Ponting were at first iffy and thereafter pulled out of this year’s Indian Premier League completely. In fact most Australian players are available only for the last two weeks of the tournament and the English players are only available for the first three weeks. Andrew Flintoff and his injury were another problem which prompted Giles Clark, Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket board (ECB) to say that the ECB may require Flintoff not to play the
IPL.
This push and pull has been ongoing for a while in international cricket, now however, ECB chairman Clarke has indicated that a settlement may be at hand. Clarke was reported in the cricket news of a leading daily as having said, "I believe we are close to a settlement. We are pleased with where things are going and would like to see the IPL have a clear season [free of a clash with international fixtures]."
This issue may be close to a resolution but the IPL organisers now face another headache. With yesterday’s
attacks on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team on everyone’s mind, the government of India is keen to see that there are no security issues or lapses during the 40 match Indian Premier League and want that the IPL should be postponed to after the general elections.
Home Minister P Chidambaram spoke to a popular TV news channel when he said that he had instructed his secretary Madhukar Gupta to contact the IPL organisers to find out if the schedule could be reworked. "I have asked the home secretary who is meeting with the organisers on Wednesday. Let me however assure everyone that cricket in India will be safe," the minister said.
IPL chairman Lalit Modi has given his assurance about security arrangements that would be made for the Indian Premier League matches and the players as well. "The IPL is fully cognizant of the importance of general elections in a country such as ours. We will go a step further to ensure that there will be no games 24 to 48 hours prior to the polling dates across all the nine match venues in the country. As indicated earlier,
Indian Premier League will work with the State and the local authorities to ensure the smooth and successful conduct of the tournament. We will announce the new reworked schedule in the next 24 hours," he said.
