Cricket South Africa offers to host IPL next year in view of Indian elections

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials are considering an alternative destination for the hugely popular tournament as next year’s competition could coincide with the country’s general elections. 

“If it proposes to move it to South Africa‚ the easy answer to give now is yes. We would be interested in hosting the IPL‚” Moroe said after signing the MoU with South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) chief executive Tony Irish.

“There are various issues that are involved because we need to look at how much money would be given to South Africa. 

“There are issues of wear and tear as far as our wickets are concerned‚ and our competitions because we are going to host the U-19 World Cup in the next two years. Should we continue with our domestic CSA T20 Slam this year‚ the tournament will also add to the workload on the wickets‚ the fixtures and those are all things that we must take into cognisance before we make a decision,” Moroe added. 

“It remains speculation for now until such time that the government of India announces the date for elections. But‚ there is an appetite from them to move it to either South Africa or Dubai,” he said. If the tournament is played in South Africa‚ it will be making a return to the country since the 2009 edition won by the Deccan Chargers. 

Speaking on the MoU with Saca‚ Moroe said it was a revenue sharing model that looks after the well-being of the players including women. “We sat with Saca to negotiate our way through the document and getting things right. We remained committed to the revenue sharing model‚ it was something that we never wanted to shy away from. “And we have included semi professional players‚ as well the women. We are happy as CSA to sign this document because it represents all cricketers in South Africa.” Irish said he was happy that they have finally reached the end of the road after protracted negotiations. 

“It has been a long road but we are at the end now‚“ he said. “That is significance because this locks down all the players arrangements for the next four years. “It is important to have clarity for the players over a four year cycle in terms of planning and financial. “There are three agreements here‚ one is recognition agreement with deals with the relationship between CSA and Saca.

“The second is the main MoU which deals with aspects relating to contracts‚ benefits‚ protocols and regulations and it includes women and semi professional players who are about 317. It is a revenue share model and it ensures that all players share in the upside.”