Reports: IPL 2019 most likely to be held outside India

The general elections in the country has led to the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) schedule not being finalised yet. The Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) is waiting for the election dates to be announced and are hoping to at least host a part of the tournament in the country. But it seems that they will have to make do with the other option like it happened in 2009.

Recently, a meeting between the BCCI and Sports Ministry officials took place and after taking a lot of factors into consideration, it seems that the former party has to take a backseat in this case. Though hosting the IPL outside India is not a problem for the Indian board having done it successfully twice before.

In 2009, the second season itself had to be moved entirely to South Africa and it was a huge hit while in 2014, the UAE hosted the first phase of the tournament before the action returned home.

Sports Ministry’s approval needed

“We explained to them that the key parties concerned are the ministries of home and external affairs. Apart from the other two ministries, the sports ministry’s approval is required only in case of hosting the tournament in India. Still, they (BCCI delegates) wanted to make sure about the paperwork or permissions required on the sports ministry’s part,” a source was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Earlier, the BCCI CEO, Rahul Johri, had said that the official broadcaster (Star Sports) and the franchises were against shifting the IPL elsewhere due to the logistical issues. Even as the IPL 12 is almost certain to be played outside India, the tournament is expected to start earlier than expected on March 29 with the World Cup also scheduled to follow soon after.

The fans are also eagerly waiting for the schedule to be announced and UAE and South Africa are once again the likeliest venues.

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