The Indian state of Maharashtra faced a drought in 2016. It had a devastating effect on many villages and farming communities, with trains and bunkers laden with water tankers arriving daily at central points, then to be distributed.
With dams empty and water a scarcity, spotlight fell on the IPL. Question marks began to be asked whether watering cricket pitches was an appropriate use of what was a scarce resource.
In response to a public interest litigation (PIL), the Bombay High Court ruled that a number of forthcoming matches which were due to be held at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, the Maharashtra Cricket Association ground, Pune, and at the Vidarbha Cricket Stadium, Nagpur should be moved out of the state.
The court argued that while shifting IPL matches would not solve the problem in itself, it was a start and allowed for water that would otherwise have go to the pitches to be diverted to the affected areas.
The BCCI argued that they would not not using potable water, and that swimming pools in five star hotels in the state were not affected. They offered also to use recycled water and even sewage, but the court did not bulge. wThe games had to be moved.
That was not the end of the matter. Before the following year, the Governing Council of the BCCI deliberated whether to take the 2017 edition of the tournament out of India altogether, and were seriously looking at moving the event abroad.
They said that if the IPL was going to be subject to PILs in this way, it would be better to play it elsewhere, with a clear, demonstrable impact on India’s GDP, given the tournament’s importance to the country’s balance of payments.
In the end, the threats came to nought, and the 2017 version was played in India.
The IPL has been played outside India four times. The 2009 edition was held in South Africa and the first part of the 2014 edition in the UAE because they clashed with the Indian general elections. And in In 2020 and the second half of 2021, the UAE again took over hosting duties, this time because of the Covid-19 pandemic in India.