“The security budget for Indian Premier League has gone up by 10 times,” said its chief Lalit Modi in Mumbai, dismissing security fears ahead of the second edition of the tournament and insisting it was wrong to compare the situation in India to Pakistan.
Modi said as far as player security is concerned during the tournament, IPL will be responsible for security of Indian and foreign players till the end of the tournament. He said foreign players would be given security from the moment they land in India to the moment they leave the country. He also clarified that not a single player has contacted IPL over tournament security.
IPl will be coordinating with state governments for security and 90 per cent of states have approved IPL’s new schedule. “The movement of players is constant and it is a cumbersome process and as such we require large amounts of coordination, teams, and people to do that,” he said.
This follows last week’s attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore, Pakistan, which left six players and a coach wounded and eight people dead.
IPL schedule being fine-tuned
Modi said the IPL schedule is being fine-tuned every minute. He also said that the IPL opening ceremony in Mumbai will take place on April 10 and tickets are likely to go on sale from next week.
Unlike last year where states and individual franchises looked after security, the IPL governing council has decided to have a central security force which would enable smooth movement of the teams, officials and the television crew across various venues.
“Nicholls Steyn, the agency looking after player security last year, will now work closely with state security forces from this year,” Modi said. “The whole security will be managed centrally.”
Lessons from England team’s visit
“After the Mumbai blasts, we still had games in Chennai and Mohali,” he added of the two tests played by England, who resumed their aborted tour in December after receiving security assurances following the killing of 179 people in November’s attacks.
The IPL Commissioner, however, said security would be beefed up as a precautionary measure. “In terms of what that security plan is, it is a very cumbersome template. We did the exercise after the Mumbai blasts, for the Chennai match against England,” he said.
“We had a rigorous plan put in place, which was shared both with the security forces, government and the international board, and implemented them without a hitch. We are now taking that as a safe template and applying that to every city that we are going to host matches,” Modi explained.
Tournament will now move to new venues of Ahmedabad and Vishakapatnam. IPL is still trying to get a confirmation from Dharamsala to host matches, he said. Modi announced that IPL has a contracted revenue of Rs 10,970 crore this year.
The teams involved in the IPL are Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharshtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka and Rajasthan.