New venues added for IPL season 2

The second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will also see matches in Ahmedabad and Visakhapatnam in addition to the eight cities where they were held last year, IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said on Tuesday.

Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh is also being considered as a new venue, Modi told a press conference in Mumbai.

Besides these three cities, the IPL governing body is evaluating other possible venues such as Nagpur, he added.

Last year, matches in the first edition of IPL were held in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, Chandigarh and Jaipur.

Modi reiterated that the IPL would start next month though fears had been expressed about availability of security personnel since the general elections would be held in April-May.

But the IPL chief declined to provide the new dates for the matches. “We are still working on the revised schedule. It is a cumbersome process,” he said.

Modi added that the opening and the closing ceremonies of the Twenty20 league will be held at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Assuring high security for the players, Modi said, “Security is paramount to us and all the players.” He also added that security budget has gone up 10 times this season and IPL will take responsibility of all the players.

Meanwhile, he also said that IPL is working closely with the state governments on security issue.