From the Indian point of view, England is the best option to host the IPL Season 2 tournament because it is in England that the Twenty20 world cup will be held and will give a chance for Indian players to prepare for this. Also this will mean that the Indian team which is currently touring New Zealand has to do less travelling back and forth. Further the time difference between India and England will neatly dovetail in a way that fits in with the IPL timing schedules for India: 11 am and 3 pm in England will correspond more or less with 4  pm and 8 pm IST. The other advantages as pointed out in the cricket news are that England is a small country, most distances are within driving range, making travel by road cost effective as against expensive air travel.

For the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), there will be significant gains in terms of revenue generation. Also the IPL would be a way to pay back the ECB the goodwill that they generated by sending their cricket team back to India after the Mumbai attacks. What also makes England a very attractive venue is the fact that there are large numbers of expatriates of Indian origin in England which would generate high degree of interest and enthusiasm. Also there is the fact that Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, the most expensive IPL players ever are English and Pietersen is now captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore, which considerable increases the brand awareness and loyalty among the English for the IPL teams.

The problems for holding the Indian Premier League in England however, are many and varied. For one England is among the most expensive places in the world, making hotel expenses and miscellaneous expenses a worry for the teams. Also the English domestic season will just be starting, making logistics, acquisition of stadiums and venues a major problem. There is also the international test series against the West Indies in May which will cause further difficulties.  
 
Among the chief difficulties facing the English hosting the IPL will be TV rights. That the owners of TV broadcast rights in England would tolerate the IPL impinging on their territory would be a knotty problem to solve. Sky TV, which currently owns broadcast rights of the English international cricket matches, will not take kindly to the broadcasting of a matches in England, which arguably attracts the cream of international cricket.

Things are far from settled right now, and cricket news concerning the IPL will continue to evolve. We will keep you posted.

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