No dates yet but two new venues confirmed

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi on Tuesday did not give out the dates for the second edition saying they were still being "fine tuned", but confirmed Ahmedabad and Visakhapatnam as the two new venues of the tournament.Addressing a press conference here, Modi said: "The schedule is being fine tuned. You have to understand that one game moved has a domino effect."He added that there was also the likelihood of adding Dharamshala and Nagpur as other venues.The opening and closing ceremonies, he said, will be held at the D Y Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai, but the Mumbai Indians are expected to play all their seven home games at the Cricket Club of India.With lots of questions raised about security, Modi said the IPL had decided in favour of a central security system.Last year, the teams were responsible for their own players' security, he said adding that the security budget "has gone up by 10 times since last year"."We are in touch with the police commissioners of the states as well for security."We have approached the state government for dates when matches should not be held. The IPL will be coming out with a revised schedules with plugging new dates. Ninety per cent of schedules have been cleared. One state has asked for one date to be changed. We are waiting for five states to get back to us with their confirmation," Modi said.

He added that the IPL had already got clearances from all states "in principle" and that the final schedule will be announced "when we get written confirmations".Modi also confirmed that Chennai Super Kings will not be playing their seven home matches at Chennai and an alternate venue was being worked out.Asked about whether inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals will get to play in Jaipur, he said: "Yes, they will play there, Rajasthan was the first state to confirm in writing. The Rajasthan government has approved the schedule in writing."The IPL commissioner rubbished reports of security concerns having been raised by foreign players and said, "No foreign players have contacted IPL about their apprehensions on security."He added that IPL's security experts had been instructed to be in touch with the board of other countries and "brief them of our security steps".During the course of the press conference, Modi also unveiled the new DLF IPL logo and shared details of the proposed 30-minute opening ceremony.

Asked about political advertising in the IPL, Modi said: "IPL will not take any political advertising in any form."