Safe or sorry...

My NEWS readers are divided over the decision of hosting the Indian Premier League overseas

Safe or sorry...

My NEWS readers are divided over the decision of hosting the Indian Premier League overseas

A needless controversy is being raised about the Indian Premier League matches being held overseas, as they were clashing with the elections. The reason for not hosting the IPL is genuine and valid.

Away from home: The second edition of the IPL will be held either in England or South Africa. file pic

It makes little difference if the IPL is held in India or England, as it is nothing but a circus. The IPL matches provide nothing substantial to the cricket fan. The IPL only fill the coffers of the owners of the IPL teams, who have paid huge sums for players, as it is a matter of pride and personal profit for them.

The only positive point about the IPL is that it creates goodwill and improves ties between international players.u00a0u00a0

Missing IPL
It's sad that India, which considers cricket as a religion, will miss the opportunity of hosting the second edition of IPL, thanks to the petty politics played by the UPA government.

It's only because of the failure of the UPA government to provide security to the cricketers that the Indian cricket lover will not get a piece of the action. Due to no support from the government, BCCI had no alternative but to shift theu00a0 tournament to England or South Africa. This move has put our nation to shame.u00a0

I hope the government's reluctance to provide security cover to cricketers does not jeopardise India's chances of hosting the next World Cup with Sri Lanka. It appears as if India has given in to the threat by terrorists.u00a0
Manoj Shah

Money matters
It seems like India is least affected by the economic slowdown. Why would any nation reeling under the effects of recession make such a hue and cry about hosting the IPL, which is nothing short of a tamaasha? Lalit Modi wanted to host the IPL in India even at the expense of the security of our nation, amply testifying the power of money.

However, wiser counsel prevailed and a decision has been made against holding the IPL in India. Hosting the tournament would mean playing into the hands of the militants.
Moreover, any terror attack would have meant India going the Pakistan way. Just when Indian captain
MS Dhoni is rallying his boys, it would have been a huge blow to the reputation of Indian cricket.u00a0

Wrong signal
With the IPL shifting to a foreign country, our government has sent a wrong signal to the world. India will now certainly witness foreign nationals hesitating to visit the sub continent having grave concerns of the terror cloud hovering over this region.

This will adversely affect the Commonwealth Games and the subsequent cricket World Cup to be
held in India in the next two years.

IPL is entertaining cricket that pulls in big crowds supporting their home teams in our cricket-crazy nation. Cricketers like England's Andrew Flintoff have already expressed their disappointment at losing
the opportunity to play before the passionate crowds in India.

I wonder if such a cheerful and overwhelming response to this domestic tournament like last year would ever be experienced in a foreign land. Indian fans will miss the the IPL.

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