South Africa was on Tuesday (24th March) named as the host for the second edition of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.  Earlier, BCCI announced shifting the event out of India because of government's inability to provide adequate security cover. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola formally announced the news in a press conference in Johannesburg.

 

The decision to hold the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa was taken after a meeting between Modi and Majola at an undisclosed location. The tournament will be held between April 18 and May 24. It will be a delay of about one week from the original schedule of April 10, 2009. Six venues have been identified for staging the eight-team tournament. To make it convenient for Indian television viewers back home, the matches will start at 4 pm IST and 8 pm IST.

 

The tournament will feature 59 matches as planned and the fixtures will be announced very shortly. South Africa competed with England as the venue after the BCCI decided to shift the tournament outside India. England was initially tipped to be the front-runner. But the wet weather there during April and May swayed the IPL officials to consider South Africa as the preferred venue.