The suspense over the Indian Premier League (IPL) venue for the tournament’s seventh edition is finally over. It is learnt, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) top brass yesterday took a decision to shift the first half of the IPL matches to United Arab Emirates (UAE). The business end of the cash-rich T20 league would be held in India.

A final and detailed itenarary is likely to be declared in a couple of days. “The BCCI has got a security clearance from the union home ministry to hold the IPL matches in India after May 12 (the last day of voting). As a result, around 60 per cent of the matches would be played in UAE,” a BCCI source told mid-day.