IPL T20 2009 in South Africa

IPL T20 2009 to be held in South Africa

Its official after a lot of speculation and drama. The second season of the high profile IPL Twenty 20 Cricket Tournament will take place in South Africa (SA). IPL Cheif Lalit Modi had talks with the South African Cricket Board and met the their Cheif Gerard Majola in Johannesburg - South Africa on Tuesday March 24, 2009. After a long meeting, Lalit Modi declared that the IPL 2009 will be hosted by South Africa.

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The date structure has also been changed. The IPL tournament will now begin on the 17th of April instead of the 10th April as stated earlier. The South African Cricket Board has assured tight security for all the players during the entire tournament. Personally Gerard Majola has assured this in a statement as reported by agencies. South Africa authorities says there will be no trouble staging the League and has assured full security. Cricket South Africa, it is reported, has also offered full support to the IPL.

IPL committee earlier decided to host the second season of IPL out of India after failed talks with the Indian Government officials. The main reason being security to be provided by the State government during the matches as it was clashing with the Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier today Lalit Modi was quoted saying ""We will have to evaluate clearly and carefully before coming to a decision about the venue. We also need to take the weather pattern into consideration as well". He had also said earlier that presence of a large Asian community makes England an attractive venue for the Twenty20 event.

The IPL Twenty20 matches will be played at 6 venues in South Africa namely: Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. Among the important factors for the IPL to host this tournament in South Africa and not England was the weather conditions. There are over 70 per cent chances of rain interupting in England in April. However, in the month of May, the temperatures will dip drastically in South Africa, making it very uncomfortable for the players.