IPL commissioner Lalit Modi does not expect the attack on the SL cricket team in Lahore to impact the tournament.

The eight-team event is scheduled to begin on April 10 at nine venues across the country, and features major players from all the Test-playing countries except Pakistan - due to simmering diplomatic tensions following the Mumbai terror attacks last November.

"The IPL will go ahead as planned and I don't visualise any impact on it," Modi told NDTV.

"There are a few dates which will change due to the general elections and a few of the games will be shifted around.

"But we will get under way on April 10."

Modi claimed the IPL security team had visualised every conceivable mode of attack and prepared for them.

"We have already put in place several measures following the Mumbai terror attacks," Modi said.

Remote chance

"We have already taken into account these kinds of attacks in our plans.

"There is always a remote chance that it may happen and therefore the agency which we have engaged have based their plans on several unrealistic but possible incidents happening in the future.

"We are fully prepared and we are going to be making sure that we are on top of security issues on a day-to-day basis.

"The Indian government is also very serious about security so for us, its a very big issue."

Modi insisted the IPL governing council would do everything to ensure foolproof security.

Security tight

"Yes we have had our share of attacks in the past, but I think India is a very safe country," he said.

"However, we are going to ensure that as far as security for the players, spectators and fans is concerned, we are not going to leave any stone unturned.

"We are going to be extremely strict and tight with security."

Modi said the IPL had already begun working on tactics to combat exactly the kind of attack the Sri Lankan team experienced.

"We already have measures in place when players need to travel around from hotel to stadium," he added.

"If you recollect, after the attacks in Mumbai, the England team returned to Chennai and we took every possible security angle into account.

Playing venues

"It was a dress rehearsal for us and the Chennai team did an extremely good job in terms of movement of players from the airports to hotel and from the hotel to different venues.

"It's a template we have already adopted and it's not that we are going to do it just because of the attack on the Sri Lankan team today.

"This is something we had decided on way back last year."

Modi revealed a new system would be in place to ensure security inside the playing venues.

"Security in stadiums will be very different too," he said.

"We have are doing something new and for the first time from this season.

"We have a disaster management team and in case of disaster occurring, we have plans in place to empty the stadium in seven minutes.

"That's the target we have set for ourselves and we have been working it for the last year.

"Every gate, every exit is taken into account and should something happen inside the stadium, God forbid, we have the capability of emptying out the entire stadium or getting people into the middle of the pitch.

"There are a lot of different things which need to be looked into, but we have a team of people advising us on this.

"This exercise started a long time ago. So we are fully prepared for any eventuality."