The Indian Premier League revised schedule sent last week,which avoids any clash with polling dates,has raised hopes for the Twenty20 tournament with the Home Ministry more amenable to the dates except for a few matches in certain high-profile venues like Mumbai where election-related security concerns are quite high. Fresh opinion of states has been sought while discussions with IPL authorities are underway. The tournament had come under cloud in the wake of the terror attack on Sri Lankan players in Lahore which raised concerns in the Home Ministry about the security aspect of the IPL tournament as it clashed with Lok Sabha election dates. With organisers drawing up a revised schedule from April 10 to May 24,the Home Ministry is learnt to be by and large fine with the revised dates,except a few matches to be held just prior to election dates. The Centre has decided to seek fresh opinion from states on the revised schedule after states like Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal sent clear messages against holding matches according to the original schedule. Nagpur and Visakhapatnam are two venues that have been added in the revised schedule while Ahmedabad is out of the itinerary. The venues drawing maximum security concerns are Mumbai and,to some extent,Hyderabad. The Home Ministry is learnt to have some reservations about a few matches in Mumbai where 11 matches have been scheduled in the revised plan. There are three phases of elections in Maharashtra from April 16 to 30l and there are at least three matches in Mumbai that fall too close to polling dates. The Centre,it is learnt,may prefer that these matches are either rescheduled in a manner that all are held in May or are moved to other venues. As of now,the IPL inauguration is slated for April 10 in Mumbai. Going by the the revised schedule,Chennai,Delhi,Visakhapatnam,Jaipur,Mohali and Bangalore are unlikely to pose much of a problem. Particularly,in Chennai,all matches have been scheduled after May 13,the day Tamil Nadu goes to polls. Of the matches scheduled in Hyderabad and Kolkata,there are doubts on a couple of them which are likely to be resolved through discussions with IPL officials.
