Indian Premier League chairman, Lalit Modi, on Saturday rejected safety concerns raised by players’ associations of Australia and New Zealand, saying the IPL was in touch with the respective boards on the security arrangements for the event.
The players’ bodies have criticised the IPL for not sharing its security plan for the event with them.
But Modi said the IPL does not recognise players’ associations and is coordinating with the respective boards on security arrangements.
“This is a concern that has been raised by the players’ associations and not cricket boards. We are in touch with the boards. We don’t recognise players’ associations.
There is no security concerns from the boards. Top security would be there at the IPL,” Modi said.
The security concerns of Australian cricketers emanate from a threat issued by Shiv Sena, which has vowed to stop them from playing in city.
Modi responsible
PCB chief Ijaz Butt has squarely blamed the IPL and its commissioner Lalit Modi for ignoring Pakistani players for the third season of India’s Twenty20 league, but said it will not have any long-term effect on sporting ties between the two countries. “This (decision to keep out Pakistani players) has nothing to do with Indo-Pak relations in cricket. This is between IPL and us. They have made a mistake. But I strongly feel it was a wrong decision on their part not to consider our boys,” Butt said.