The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally agreed to the proposal of organising an International Cricket Council (ICC) event every year. This came as a surprise to many because the Indian cricket board was always opposed to this. BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly had even countered the ICC’s stance and said even FIFA organises such events once in four years. According to reports, BCCI’s change in stance is due to ICC’s agreement over a longer window for the Indian Premier League (IPL).
From next year, the IPL will include 10 teams instead of the current eight. In this case, more time for the event will be required.
In the current format of the IPL, 60 matches are played in around 55 days. But from next season the number of teams will increase to 10 and the matches can go up to 90. If the teams are divided into two groups, then there will be 76 matches. For this, the BCCI will need 15 to 20 extra days. In such a situation, the availability of foreign players will be a big challenge. Due to this, an agreement has been made between BCCI and ICC, according to the reports.
The ICC had announced the Future Tour Program (FTP) between 2023 and 2031 at its on June 1. The cricket governing body said it plans to hold one event every year. BCCI opposed the initiative but the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia were on board.
The current season of IPL was postponed to May 4 due to rising coronavirus cases in India. The BCCI had announced recently that the remaining matches of the IPL 2021 will be held in the UAE in September-October.
Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here