IPL: CSA keen to host the tournament next year

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is most likely to be shifted out of India next year due to the general elections in the country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is pondering over the alternative venue for a significant period of time and are waiting for the dates of the elections to be announced. However, Cricket South Africa has shown a keen interest in hosting the tournament next year.

The eleventh edition of the IPL was a blockbuster following the return of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Moreover, the former and the most popular franchise went on to win the competition which proved to be the icing on the cake.

CSA has previously hosted the tournament successfully back in 2009 which had garnered a huge response from the fans and no wonder they are eager to bag the rights once again.

CSA chief comments

“If they were to propose to move it to SA‚ the easy answer to give now is yes. We would be interested in hosting the IPL‚ the Chief Executive of CSA, Thabang Moroe was quoted as saying by businesslive.co.za. He also cleared that the idea of shifting the tournament remains a speculation until the election dates are announced by the Government of India.

“It remains speculation for now until such time that the government of India announces the date for elections. But there is an appetite from them to move it to either SA or Dubai,” Moroe added.

He also highlighted the workload on the pitches the tournament will be played on and felt that they will have to work on the logistics if IPL is indeed shifted to the rainbow nation next year.

“There are issues of wear and tear as far as our wickets are concerned and [issues regarding] our competitions because we are going to host the U19 World Cup in the next two years. Should we continue with our domestic T20 Slam this year‚ the tournament will also add to the workload on the wickets … and those are all things we must take cognisance [of] before we make a decision,” CSA chief further said.

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