Cricket's Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition will move to the United Arab Emirates and possibly Bangladesh due to a clash with general elections in India.
The IPL season will start in mid April just days after the beginning of the elections.
The Indian government has informed IPL organisers that security forces are needed for the world's biggest elections, which run until May 12 and cannot be diverted for the cricket competition.
That means at least the first 16 matches will be moved to the UAE, at venues still to be decided.
The second phase of the competition from May 1 to 12 could be held in Bangladesh if the Indian government rejects organisers' request to hold matches in specific Indian states once polling there ends.
The third phase of the tournament after May 12 will be held in India, with the provision that no match be organised on May 16, when vote counting and election results are expected to be announced.
The second edition of the IPL in 2009 had been shifted entirely to South Africa since the dates of the tournament also clashed with parliamentary elections that year.
