IPL: Not just cricket

Imagine if the UK was deemed too risky a venue for the English Football Premier League, or the US considered the baseball World Series too much of a security threat to be held on home soil? Well, that’s effectively what India has just decided about Indian Premier League cricket, a sport seen as a religion in much of the country.

The Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament is being shipped overseas. Following the terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan earlier this month, India’s government has decided it can’t provide security for both the country’s upcoming general elections and the IPL, which was due to take place at the same time. Democracy is rightly taking priority over sport, but the IPL will have to be held elsewhere, mostly likely London, South Africa or the Middle East.

Holding the tournament abroad, instead of cancelling it outright, should at least protect the financial interests of the franchises that own the teams. But what’s supposed to be India’s most lucrative tournament might not make a profit at all this season for the sports organisers, according to the IPL’s chairman.

Yet the biggest cost is political. The decision to ship the IPL overseas could conceivably cost the ruling Congress Party victory in what’s expected to be a relatively tight election. Even if the IPL is able to return to India next year, it’s a miserable reminder of how regional geopolitical instability is real obstacle to India’s achievements.