IPL II- AT THE VERGE OF POSTPONEMENT:

The year 2008 had been great for BCCI since its T-20 venture through Indian premier League saw a tremendous success. With the auction of international players for huge ransom and media cashing in through live telecasts, IPL became popular compared to league matches in other countries. This year too the auctions started off well with players like Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Peterson being bought for about $1.5million each. But IPL now faces a backlash with some sponsors and advertisers giving up, thanks to the recession. The Lahore attack on SriLankan cricketers has only added to the woes of BCCI with the security arrangements being questioned. England Cricket Board has raised doubts about sending its players to India on security grounds. Last year saw the IPL matches being attended by celebrities like Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and a lot of Bollywood celebrities too. Thus the security of these celebrities becomes the need of the hour. The overlapping of poll dates with the matches has worsened the situation. Though slight rescheduling of the matches have been done(A gap of at least 48 hours has been given between the polling day and the match in a particular region), IPL still faces the threat of postponement since the security of the leaders during the election rallies are of utmost importance in this situation. There is also a thought that people will prefer attending the IPL matches rather than the election rallies. Hence there are chances for BCCI to come under political pressure to reschedule the matches.