IPL 2014 likely to be held in South Africa after Home Ministry says it will be "tough to provide security"

Lalit Modi, the then IPL commissioner, watches the opening ceremony of IPL 2009 which was held in South Africa.

Almost half of the 2014 edition of the Indian Premier League(IPL) is set to be moved out of India after reports have emerged that the Indian Government has stated that providing security for the tournament will be difficult as the general elections in the country are scheduled to be held around the same time.

The situation is similar to the one in 2009 when the IPL was played entirely in South Africa and the Rainbow Nation looks likely to play host to the tournament yet again.

On February 13th, Sanjay Patel, the BCCI secretary, told the media after the IPL governing council meeting: “As far as possible our interest is to hold the IPL in India. Then, probably, South Africa is the preferred venue at the moment.”

After a meeting last night between BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla and IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal with the Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, it looks like a part of the tournament will have to be moved out of India. The Home Minister is believed to have said that it will be “tough to provide adequate security for Indian Premier League (IPL) matches” during general elections.

The ministry has apparently informed the BCCI that the tournament can be held in the country only after May 11,2014 which means that almost four weeks of IPL action will take place elsewhere.

“We are in constant touch with franchises; we have taken them into confidence in the last two days and we held a series of meetings with them. We have made our stand clear. They appreciated our concerns and they have given us cooperation on this matter,” Biswal said last week.

The IPL governing council has finalised a window of April 9 to June 3 for IPL 2014.