NR-IPL

(So, its pretty certain now, that the IPL 2 will be played in SA. For the uninitiated- IPL is the Indian Premier League- a cricket tournament- essentially the Indian equivalant of the EPL in england or NFL in USA. )

First, I want to throw some of my opinions about why IPL has been forced to shift to SA !!

1. Security - Clearly the issue of security came into focus after the lahore attacks on the SL cricket team. We all remember of the hue and cry raised by the Rajasthan royals when Jaipur blasts happened during IPL 1. Now with the SL team(of all teams!!) getting targeted so audaciously in Pak, we can imagine the uproar n the scale of it if anything even remotely untoward happened during election time in the course of IPL season 2. Hence, security concern is genuine - but is security the only reason for IPL not happening in India? Not even a remote chance of that being the case.
2. 
   
3. Politics - This requires a bit of background. NCP chief Sharad Pawar is the controller at BCCI. NCP and the ruling 'KingCong' Congress Party had a bitter tiff over seat sharing in Maharashtra, with Mr. Pawar declaring his PM aspirations. IPL was a clear attempt to embarrass and checkmate Mr. Pawar - who one must say is the seniormost and one of the top 3 most capable politicians in India without doubt.

1. Inflexibility of BCCI - They had to schedule this bang in between elections. Can't these BCCI ppl, (who run ICC anyways) postpone the entire cricket schedule by 2-3 weeks? Today's cricket establishment cannot run without India and such a move wouldn't have found any opposition I am sure. But, no - the BCCI didn't do it.
   
2. Security and highhandedness of Govt - Why can't they allow Private security? why ? (This is one question  I haven't yet found a answer to- especially when the IPL was willing to organise such security.)
3. 
   
4. Flipflopping by Govt- In typical sarkari babu fashion - the buck passing and blame passing kept on happening. One could literally hear Mr. PC everyday on TV saying that IPL is the state's responsibility, even when he was doing all the decision making. 

Now what are the implications of all this?

1. India in general and Govt. in particular has lost face - if you can't provide security to a sports event- how can you assure of your citizens' safety?
2. As with every issue over the past 6 months - the Pakistan angle will surface.
3. The Indian fans won't enjoy live cricket and lots of potential revenue streams have died even before they could originate. Organizers are set to lose advertsing revenue from associated local events held during the IPL event
   
4. SA board would be a major beneficiary - if not financially, at least in terms of goodwill.

To conclude - I sincerely feel that the issue could have been easily resolved if both parties hadn't brought politics in between. Clearly, the problem in India is that politicians have perpetrated into every elected bodies of note and are creating major roadblocks.There is no state Cricket board in India devoid of politicians .

Adios !!