IPL security agency faces time crunch

The elections in South Africa on April 22, four days after the IPL starts in the country, the crime rate in cities like Johannesburg and the limited time available are some of the key challenges facing the league's security managers, according to Nicholls Steyn & Associates, who are handling the tournament's security.

Nicholls admitted that moving the tournament to South Africa was a good option from the security point of view because the situation in India had made it "very difficult " to host the event there. Besides, Nicholls said they were not able to conduct a final assessment of the situation in India for the IPL because of the delays in final decisions.

"We were waiting for the feedback from the Indian government about what resources could be made available," Nicholls told Cricinfo. "There were a lot of delays caused in getting a decision, but we believe that it is a positive sign that those delays were caused because of the desire to keep security first. We were very aware of the fact the security measures that were provided had to be of the highest standards and there were many discussions to see if those required standards could be provided with the other things that were going in India at time."

The IPL's security template in South Africa will borrow significantly from the World Twenty20 model and the plan during India's tour of South Africa in 2006 as well as other international tours and events. The South African agency has enormous expertise in providing security to teams and players and is also the ICC's security consultant. They were roped in by the IPL last year as their central player-security managers.

"From the cricketing perspective, it is obviously disappointing [to shift the IPL] because everyone would've liked the event to happen in India," Nicholls said. "But the situation and timing make it impossible to host it there, so from our perspective if it is not going to be in India then we believe that South Africa is a good choice."

Asked whether the firm was confident of providing security in India without central security forces, as the IPL had claimed in a letter to the Indian government, Nicholls said, "It is a difficult question to answer because while we may be told that we do not have central forces, we needed to assess what forces are then actually going to be available. We knew what had to be done and everyone at the IPL agreed that player security was an absolute priority but obviously we didn't know exactly what the situation was until the decision came from the government."

In South Africa, though, time is the major challenge, Nicholls said. "There is not much time to put everything together. The good thing is South Africa hosted the Twenty20 World Cup in the recent past as well as other large tournaments so there is good history of doing that. We would have certainly liked longer duration for planning but that is just the way it is - we have an X amount of time to do it and we have got to get things in place in the time available. Fortunately we have an experienced team who know what has to be done and have done it before."

Nicholls declined to reveal numbers, in terms of security personnel employed, but confirmed that he would be working together with the South African government. Bangalore Challengers take on Deccan Chargers in Cape Town on April 22, election-day in South Africa, and Nicholls said that he understood that the matter of holding the game on that particular day had been discussed at the "highest" level.

"That was something which has been discussed at a very high level," Nicholls said. "It was a concern, but from my understanding it has been discussed with the South African government and their input was taken into account in planning the schedule."

The crime rate in cities like Johannesburg, which hosts eight IPL matches, Nicholls admitted, was something that would be taken into consideration. "Some countries have a higher terrorism threat and a low crime rate and in others it is reverse where the crime rate is higher," he said. "Certainly the crime rate is something that has to be taken in consideration for any major event that happens in South Africa."