Fact Check: Is BCCI Planning To Move IPL 2024 Out Of India Due To THESE Reasons

With General Election 2024 set to take place in April/May next year, chances are that Indian Premier League may have to move out of India due to security reasons.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have a lot on their plate these days. The board is busy planning the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 that India are hosting after a gap of 12 years. After the schedule was announced a few weeks back, BCCI took the decision to announce make some tweaks in the fixtures as three members boards had reached out to them with some issues. However, the rescheduled fixtures are not out yet with tournament less than 3 months to go. 

Next year, BCCI could be in a spot again when the time to host the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) arrives. The ten-team T20 league usually starts in March end and goes in till May end. There are 70 matches played in the tournament. However, United States of America (USA) and West Indies are reportedly going to host the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 from first week of June. If that happens, there is no way IPL 2024 can finish by May end as this will not give players, who will be playing both T20 World Cup and IPL, a breather between the tournaments.

Additionally, there are Lok Sabha elections set to take place in India in 2024. The elections are likely to be held between months of April and May. Many websites have reported that the tournament may move out of India due to the same reason. In 2009, IPL was held in South Africa due to General Elections in India. In 2014, it was jointly hosted by India and UAE. There is a big likelihood of it happening. IPL is a long tournament in which the authorities heavy security at the stadiums. But for a democratic country like India, holding General Elections is a big priority, which involves huge security arrangement. In such a scenario, holding two big events like these becomes impossible.

However, BCCI have not yet said anything on change of IPL 2023 venue or dates. There will be many discussions and exchange of words, e-mails before any decision is taken related to the dates and venue change of IPL. The T20 tournament is still far and the priority right now is to host the ODI World Cup successfully. The fact that the tournament has already seen change of venues several times in the past, twice because of Lok Sabha elections, the fans are believing the same to happen next year. However, we must wait and watch and let the board take a final decision.