Cricket: IPL players expect series to go ahead

New Zealand players involved in the second Indian Premier League tournament still expect the tournament to take place in India next month.

The tournament has been wrapped in speculation since Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram asked organisers to postpone it while the election took place.

He argued that security forces would be stretched too thin in trying to protect cricketers and politicians. The election had to take precedence and therefore the Government was reluctant to approve the tournament.

Heath Mills, who is monitoring the situation for the eight contracted New Zealanders taking part - Dan Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Ross Taylor, Kyle Mills, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris and Stephen Fleming - said he would be "very surprised if the tournament did not take place, largely as scheduled.

"There might be the odd shifting of games from one city to another but I am not expecting anything radical," Mills said.

The tournament, opened with such razzmatazz last year, could not feasibly be pushed back any later with the ICC world Twenty20 championships set down for England in June, a nice little appetiser for the Ashes to follow.

Yesterday a rumour emerged that South Africa was preparing itself to host the IPL should India not be able to, but that was quickly quashed by IPL and South African officials.

South Africa was confirmed last week as the new host venue of the Champions Trophy, which had previously been slated for Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and it was reported also that it could perform a similar role for the IPL.

"There have been no talks," said Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola. "It is a rumour."

But in a portent of what could be, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said contingency plans had been drawn up to ensure the tournament's survival.

Meanwhile, IPL organisers are looking for 80 bullet-proof cars and buses to transport players as they bid to secure government clearance for their tournament.

The Indian Express reported the IPL as saying they needed 64 bullet-proof cars and 16 buses and wanted them within 15 days, while the Times of India reported the IPL's security consultants had approached an Indian company.

Some foreign players are looking for extra safety assurances but the company approached felt there was not enough time to prepare such a large order.

"It takes at least two months to armour a vehicle and they want us to bullet-proof 64 cars and 16 buses in a fortnight," Sanchit Sobti, a director of Laggar Industries told the Express.