Vijay Mallya hails BCCIs gesture

Vijay Mallya, owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers thanked the Indian Premier League (IPL) management and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for agreeing to contribute towards the extra expenses incurred in travelling to South Africa.

Mumbai, Apr 3 : Vijay Mallya, owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers thanked the Indian Premier League (IPL) management and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for agreeing to contribute towards the extra expenses incurred in travelling to South Africa.

"I am very glad as a franchise owner that we are playing here. 95 per cent of the IPL is watched on the television. I think the television viewership will not suffer because we have kept the time at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the same time. As far as the cost element is concerned, it will cost us more to go to South Africa and play. But, the BCCI and the IPL organisation have assured us that we will be adequately compensated," said Mallya while addressing a press conference here on Thursday.

It may be recalled that the IPL decided to stage the second edition of IPL Twenty20 cricket matches in South Africa instead of India as the dates of certain ties clashed with general elections. The government expressed its inability to provide security to the players and also at the venues of the matches.

Consequently, the franchised owners of the teams had become a worried lot and sought drawbacks from the BCCI and the IPL to make up the cost of travelling to South Africa.

The BCCI has agreed to compensate the IPL franchisees the money spent on air travel to South Africa and also any extra expenditure incurred towards accommodation of their teams.

Whereas the commercial success of the first edition saw the IPL contribute close to rupees one billion to the exchequer last year, the BCCI doesn't expect much profits this year due to huge supplementary costs in staging the matches abroad.

Meanwhile, in Kolkata, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly said that he was satisfied with the choice of Bloemfontein as the base camp for the team in South Africa.

"The population is much less. It is an open city. I have been to Bloemfontein many number of times. The facilities are very good. They say the best cricket wicket in South Africa is Bloemfontein. Adrian Le Roux comes from Bloemfontein. So he had a major say in this decision (of South Africa hosting the second edition of IPL)," said Ganguly.

The IPL tournament will start on April 10 and continue till May 24 in which 59 matches will be played at various venues in South Africa.

ANI