Mumbai, March 6:

Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi insisted the billion-dollar tournament will go ahead as planned from next month, but with an altered schedule.

The Twenty20 tournament featuring leading cricketers from around the world

was thrown into doubt when the Indian government said it wanted the event postponed to avoid a clash with general elections.

But Modi said he was confident it would go ahead and hoped to get clearance from the government next week. “We are working on a revised schedule where matches do not clash with elections in a particular city,” Modi said after a meeting of the IPL governing council. “It is a cumbersome process, but we hope to have a new schedule in place soon.” Modi said there would be no IPL match on May 16, the day when votes will be counted in India’s general elections.