JOHANNESBURG – Reports recently that Cricket SA might assist its Indian counterparts, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), to host next year’s Indian Premier League seemed to be moving a step closer to fruition with an inspection team from the League doing a recce at SuperSport Park on Monday afternoon.
The three person inspection team was accompanied by Cricket SA’s Manager for Cricket Operations, Mike Gajjar as well as SuperSport Park’s stadium manager Jabu Kubeka. The group was taken through various suites at the ground, the respective dressing rooms and the commentary booths.
The group is expected to head to other venues in the country later this week, with Durban understood to be next on their agenda.
A Cricket SA spokesman confirmed that the group was in the country to do a recce on behalf of the IPL and that two members of the group would remain in the country for the duration on the newly launched Mzansi Super League in an advisory capacity.
The Deccan Chargers celebrate after being presented with the IPL trophy by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg May 24, 2009. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
The Mumbai Mirror newspaper reported on the recce at the weekend. The inspections will be done at all of South Africa’s major stadia with the BCCI apparently keen to host the event here like it did in 2009, owing to the general elections in that country next year. The dates for the elections are yet to be announced, but the BCCI want to be prepared in case its most lucrative event needs to be moved.
It has been suggested that South Africa and the United Arab Emirates are the BCCI’s preferred candidates to host the 2019 edition of the IPL.
According to the Mirror the dates for the tournament will determine exactly how much of it will be hosted in India or if the whole tournament will be played outside the country. That publication speculated that a portion of the tournament would be hosted in the UAE with the conclusion of the event taking place in India.
If the elections take place before April 15, the whole competition could take place in South Africa.