Mallya Desired England As IPL Venue

Liquor baron and owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, Vijay Mallya, has said that he would have preferred England to host the second season of the Indian Premier League.

Vija Mallya and Lalit Modi

The Twenty20 competition was moved out of India because of a clash of dates with general elections and the IPL organisers sealed a deal to organise the event in South Africa.

“To be honest, I would have preferred England to South Africa,” the Daily Express quoted Mallya, as saying.

Mallya agreed that there is a huge possibility of rain disruptions; but he believed the tournament would have drawn bigger crowds in England.

“You could have taken just one flight from five or six cities in India to England and it would have been cheaper. Besides, an average Englishman loves his cricket and the stands there would have been full of spectators. But, I guess the weather conditions clinched the issue for South Africa,” he said.

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Indian Fans Disappointed

The change in venue for the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has brought disappointment to the Indians who were batting for the Twenty20 competition being played in India.

Fans Enjoying Cricket

“It is like imagining Wimbledon in England, Australian Open tennis, or the UFA cups being played abroad. The charm of an Indian event has gone. It has become a television event,” said Diana Edulji, former Indian women”s Test cricketer.

Jitender Kumar, a cricket coach, said: “It will send out a wrong message to the world that such a big country like ours could not provide security to a sporting event. I believe it would have been better if IPL would have been held in India.”

Disappointment was writ large on the faces of young cricket enthusiasts who felt that IPL should be hosted in India as very few matches are played on Indian soil.

For Complete news visit:www.octansports.com/cricket/cricket-news/2463/Indians-Disappointed.htm

TV Rights Not Weather, Took IPL Away

Television rights and not the weather, it appears convinced Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi to chose South Africa instead of England for the second edition of the twenty20 tournament.

Lalit Modi,chairman IPL and(CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola

According to The Independent, Modi did not bother going on to London as initially planned to hear a pitch from the England and Wales Cricket Board for staging the game’s most lucrative competition.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India became less enthusiastic about hosting the event in Britain when they realised that apart from the bad weather in April and May, there may also encounter problems with broadcasting rights and revenue.

For complete news visit:www.octansports.com/cricket/cricket-news/2446/TV-Rights-Not-Weather,-Took-IPL-Away.htm

England in line to host IPL

England is most likely to host the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009 edition after South African Chief Gerald Majola revealed that his country is not the first choice for organizers.

Convenor of IPL Lalit Modi is likely to arrive in London on Monday to hold further discussions with England and Wales Cricket Board to draft out ways which will fit twenty20 tournament around the county season.

Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Lalit Modi,Shilpa Shetty and Priety Zinta

England and South Africa are the primary two venues where IPL is likely to be played, but it seems BCCI prefers former for its huge Asian crowd.

“England is a very attractive venue,” Modi told The Daily Telegraph.

Board of Control for Cricket in India, contacted ECB and insisted for a decision to be made as soon as possible to check the practicability of hosting IPL on such short notice.

ECB, chief executive David Collier will fly back to England to meet IPL officials on Wednesday or Thursday.

Speaking to British media giant, Sky Collier clarified, “We have opened up discussions with the BCCI and IPL with the last 36 hours and we’ll be continuing those discussions in the middle of this week-and then we’ll be reporting to our board at the back end of the week.

“Clearly with only three weeks to go to the start of the competition, I think all parties recognize an early decision has to be made.”

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