IPL can help in globalisation of cricket: Majola

Johannesburg:

After successfully hosting the second edition of the Indian Premier League, Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief Gerald Majola said the concept has the potential to globalise the game and help prosper the other formats as well.

The Twenty20 event was moved from India to South Africa at a short notice because of General Elections.

"Internationally, it has changed the landscape of world cricket. Properly handled, the IPL concept will bring about the real globalisation of the sport for the first time.

"This should enable the longer forms of cricket to prosper, but only if they are made to be publicly attractive in the 21st century and beyond," Majola said.

Deccan Chargers beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs to lift the second IPL trophy at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday night.

Majola declared the IPL a resounding success, and said all parties involved should feel proud of the collective effort that saw

"CSA's main reason for taking on the challenge of hosting the IPL was to assist an ICC member country who had problems hosting a major tournament for reasons beyond its control," he said.

"We knew that CSA had the climate, facilities, know-how and a cricket-loving public to back up the successful hosting of this second IPL tournament even at this short notice. To see it all come together with a full house at the Liberty Life Wanderers Stadium for the final was incredible," Majola said.

The CSA chief said the IPL not only provided a major boost to South Africa's tourism sector in this period of economic meltdown, but also showed the world that it was ready for next year's football World Cup.

"Before our national elections last month, South Africa was experiencing a lot of doom and gloom politically and economically, and the IPL tournament lifted spirits enormously. Our tourist industry also got an extra bite of the cherry against the negative world travel trend.

"It also showed the world that South Africa was ready and able to do a great job in hosting FIFA's two most important events -- the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup," said Majola.

Majola also feels that the IPL has given young South African cricketers a great platform to prepare for the T20 World Cup next month.

"It has given a number of young South African cricketers a chance to play top level cricket against, and with, many of the world's greatest stars. This will give them huge confidence going into the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20 in England," he said.