The contest between England and South Africa to stage the Indian Premier League (IPL) was hotting up as bad weather threatened to cool English hopes of staging the lucrative Twenty20 event.
Organisers have had to take the second edition of the lucrative tournament out of its homeland, with the Indian government saying it cannot provide sufficient security forces for both the forthcoming general election and the Twenty20 competition, which runs from April 10-May 24.
IPL chiefs were attracted to England for several reasons.
Among those were the relatively short distance between venues and the strong support for Asian teams in the country’s major cities, which are also home to Test match grounds that could stage fixtures.
But according to a report, opinion has moved sharply in favour of South Africa, with IPL officials increasingly worried by how rain, which often makes a major dent in the early part of an English cricket season, could adversely affect up to 70 percent of their fixture schedule.
South Africa not only has generally better weather but its domestic season is due to end just the day before the IPL’s scheduled start.
