London, Mar. 25: Television rights and not the weather, it appears convinced Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi to chose South Africa instead of England for the second edition of the twenty20 tournament.

According to The Independent, Modi did not bother going on to London as initially planned to hear a pitch from the England and Wales Cricket Board for staging the game''s most lucrative competition.

Bridgetown (West Indies)

London, Mar. 25: England cricket players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will lose 150,000 and 75,000 pounds respectively due to the rescheduling of the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Originally, the IPL was to start on April 10, but the event will now commence on April 18, as it has been shifted to South Africa and because the Indian cricket board wants to give its players some rest and time with their families after they return from New Zealand on April 8.

New Delhi, March 24 : Amidst the hot debate on the Indian Premiere League (IPL) to be held outside India, an NDTV GfK-MODE survey revealed that 71 percent of the Indians would love to see IPL played in India only.

The poll was conducted in 13 Indian cities with a sample size of 1402 Indians, to find people's opinion on the ongoing controversy regarding IPL.

Seventy-one percent of the census would like the IPL to be held in India and 29 percent feel that it doesn't matter where it is played.

New Delhi, Mar 24 : South Africa will host the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is expected to start from April 17.

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi will address a press conference at 9 pm IST in this regard.

The possible venues for the tournament will also be declared in the conference.

Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth are the expected venues for the tournament.

Lahore, Mar 24: Shoaib Akhtar is hopeful the Indian Premier League (IPL)’s impending move to South Africa or England could pave the way for Pakistani players to return to the lucrative Twenty20 tournament.

In an interview to a cricket website, Shoaib said he and his Pakistani counterparts were holding out hope of an eleventh-hour call-up to the IPL, now that the tournament seems destined to be shifted out of India.