IPL on, but with a new schedule: Lalit Modi

Mumbai: Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi on Friday cleared any doubts about the holding of the tournament, saying the governing body of IPL was working on a revised schedule.

"We want to assure all our fans and sponsors that the IPL is on. There are lot of speculations. There is no question of IPL moving to any other country," IPL Chairman and Commissioner Modi told reporters at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.

Modi, who is also the Vice-President of the Indian Cricket Board, said that the IPL is working on a revised fixture and it will be decided soon. He also said that the IPL will also come up with a security plan next week.

"We are rescheduling the fixture and we are touch with all the state associations. It is a cumbersome process and can't be done overnight. We will shortly have a new schedule out," he said.

Modi, however, made it clear that there won't be any matches on the day of the counting - May 16.

"There won't be a match in a city also on election day. We are working on it and we have also 14 cities available and we have to shortlist eight from them," he said.

After the meeting of the IPL Governing Council Modi said, "We are extremely grateful and thankful to the Home Minister (P Chidambaram) who has assured us that security will be provided for IPL matches. We will shortly have a new schedule out. The IPL is on."

Chidambaram had just over an hour ago told reporters in Hyderabad that India was safe enough to host cricket tournaments and that the Government will provide security provided the tournament's schedule is re-worked to ensure that they do not overlap with the election dates.

State governments have expressed their inability in providing security for the IPL, which coincides with the Lok Sabha elections.

However, Chidambaram clarified his stand on Friday saying, "I did not say IPL should be postponed. IPL and election schedules are overlapping. I don't blame the IPL management at all. They finalised their dates earlier. But once the Election Commission announced the election dates on Monday, I saw that the election and IPL schedules were completely overlapping."

PROBABLE IPL VENUES:

Mumbai

Delhi

Jaipur

Kolkatta

Bangalore

Hyderabad

Chennai

Mohali

Ahmedabad

Indore

Rajkot