From Pages of My Dairy - Fallout of Shifting IPL

The IPL was moved out of India as the schedule coincided with the general elections. Thanks to the home ministry and some states that dragged cold feet on the matter of security perceptions. Many people including politicians had pointed out that this step could well have a cascading effect on all future sporting / other international events in the country. The Australian Tennis Federation have pulled out of the forthcoming Davis Cup tie at Chennai citing the IPL example and giving the same reason that since it coincided with the ongoing elections there, the level of security would be questionable. I do not understand how a Davis cup tie which involves only two teams with a contingent of maximum a dozen players and officials and one venue, could be compared with an event like IPL which had 8 teams of 25 players and half a dozen officials in each team and half a dozen venues ? Anyways, this was bound to happen sooner than later. Now India will always be under the microscope. This issue will come up again when the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup Hockey Games planned in 2010 and the World Cup Cricket planned in 2011 come closer. And yes, the politicians will not hesitate to encash this during the phase II of the ongoing elections. Media is bound to have a field day.