By IANS,
Bangalore/Mumbai : The two semi-finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have been shifted to Navi Mumbai Sunday, keeping in mind the safety of players and fans following Saturday’s twin blasts and detection of two crude bombs at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium.
IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said the governing council was not ready to take any chances and wanted to ensure the safety of players and spectators. Three matches will take place Wednesday and Thursday at the D.Y. Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.
Modi said the IPL was reluctant to relocate the semifinals at such a short notice. “But yesterday’s incidents have made it clear that the current environment in Bangalore prevents us from continuing with our original plans. The incidents were assessed by local police and the IPL’s security agency as being of a minor nature but they have forced our hand.”
“This decision is naturally disappointing for the people of Bangalore but has been taken with the tournament’s best interests, and the interests of its many varied stakeholders, in mind,” Modi said in a statement.
Indian cricket board vice-president Rajiv Shukla told reporters in Bangalore: “We have decided to shift the April 21-22 semi-finals to Mumbai keeping in view the safety of players and fans after the Bangalore police commissioner (Shankar Bidari) expressed apprehension over providing adequate security in and around the stadium,”
Top officials of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), and IPL security agency Sunday discussed with Bangalore police commissioner Shankar Bidari the security arrangements for the twin semis that were slated at the stadium coming Wednesday and Thursday.
“Following reluctance shown by Bidari during a meeting to assure fool-proof security for the twin semis in Bangalore, we had no option but shift the crucial matches to Mumbai in the aftermath of twin blasts Saturday and detection of two crude bombs earlier in the day,” Shukla said.
About 10 persons, including six policemen, were injured in the twin blasts at gate No.12 of the stadium and outside the stadium an hour before the IPL league match between the home team Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians was to start at 4 p.m.
The detection of two crude bombs – one at a bus stand near the VIP gate No.1 and the other on a billboard pole near gate No.9 – during combing operations by the city police bomb squad raised security fears for the IPL organisers.
Though KSCA secretary and former Indian batsman Brijesh Patel expressed confidence of staging the semis after an hour-long meeting with Bidari, the IPL decision to shift the ties to Navi Mumbai came as a set-back to the hosts, thousands of fans, franchisees and other stakeholders.