Sportsnob – Critics Corner

The third season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is upon us and much like the previous two editions, most of the the talking points leading up to the tournament are taking place off the field.

In the first edition, the news was dominated by big money and pretty faces as glamorous Bollywood stars and industrialists threw huge sums of money at players at a surreal auction in Mumbai. Of course, by the time the Rajasthan Royals edged out the Chennai Superkings in a tense final in Mumbai – it seemed like the Indian Premier League was here to stay. The big question then was why it had taken so much time for this idea to see the light of day.

Last year, the overlap of the IPL with the other big Indian tamasha – the general elections led to an eleventh hour switch to South Africa for security reasons. What followed was a mass movement of players, support staff, cheerleaders, broadcasters, technicians, and equipment to South Africa – a seemingly impossible task that Modi and his staff executed to near perfection.

This year, one of the biggest issues confronting the host cities, the central government and of course the organizers is security. With the gaze of the sporting world fixed firmly at India, the Indian Premier League provides an opportunity for terrorist groups to make an impact. And after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore last year, the theory that terrorists will never target cricket has been laid to rest.

Already this year, several terrorist groups have issued threats of terrorist attacks during the major sporting events in India this year – the Hockey World Cup, the IPL and of course the Commonwealth Games. But unlike the other two events which are going to be in one city (New Delhi), the IPL is going to held across 11 cities – with the addition of Dharamshala, Cuttack and Nagpur to the original eight. And considering the flights, the hotels, the stadia and the cities themselves – it remains to be seen if  there are any unfortunate incidents over the next sixty days. An attack during the IPL could of course have big implications on the economy and the success of the other big tournament that no one wants to talk about – the Commmonwealth Games in New Delhi in October.

Over the past few weeks, many foreign cricketers have raised concerns about the lack of clarity regarding security arrangements in different cities. Tim May,the head of FICA, the international players association, has repeatedly warned that players could back out of the league but as March 12th approaches it seems like most cricketers will be taking part in the league. Lalit Modi seems confident that his team will pull it off with repeated assurances that security is in order. As ever Prem Panicker has an excellent update on what Lalit Modi has to say on his Twitter page.