Jaipur Bomb Blasts and IPL

As expected the Jaipur Bomb blasts on 13th May, have not only rocked the pink city but has also rocked the Rajasthan Royals as the foreign players have expressed a concern on continuing in the IPL especially after BCCI declined to move the games from Jaipur.

As for as the concern of foreign players goes, it is completely justified. After all, any sports require a peaceful environment to showcase its talent. A player can not concentrate in the game when there is always a possibility of a bomb explosion near the stadium or the hotel or anywhere they are. At the end of the day, all of them have families like we do. Although it is said that the terrorist have nothing to do with the cricket and the cricketers in particular, I will not buy the words of those people who are involved in such a inhuman act. And so why would the foreign cricketers buy the same? In fact many of the domestic players too would have the same concern. Shane warne has been reported to have said to an Australian daily - "I would not have come to play in IPL had it happened before I flew from Australia". No wonder, recently because of similar concerns, Australia canceled the whole Australian trip. Question is: how do we see IPL without those foreign players, especially without the Australians?

This incident at the same time has put BCCI on its toes. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, declined any such reports about Australian's not continuing the game but It is yet to be seen, how BCCI has prepared itself for any of such unexpected events. This probably has given them a chance for future if they have never thought about this. I sincerely hope they have not been completely lost in the million dollors. They can devise and come up with a strategy to tackle such a situation. It is going to be an inconvenience for the viewers, but it should not bother anyone a bit, where the lives of so many people are at risk.

I guess BCCI can follow a simple Strategy in the future. In addition to these 8 stadiums, it can think of another 1-2 reserved stadiums. These reserved stadiums should not be declared public to anyone. In case, something like this happens and there is a high concern, the games should be immediately moved to that location. It would not take much effort because BCCI would have already planned about most of the things. Of course beefed up security system is a part of any process by default. The organizers would incur some loss because of this sudden move, but I believe it is worth taking. It is only going to increase IPL's reputation in its initial years. Remember, most of the foreign players have been the super stars so far. Without them, IPL will only be slightly better than the existing domestic tournaments. What about the Rajasthan Royals? Would they remain the same Royals if Warne and watson depart midway? BCCI should make every effort to make sure they are convinced about their security.

This article has already been published in www.cricweed.com