MUMBAI: The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) ‘The Hundred’ league, which kicks off in 2020, could well be the first international tournament (ICC events excluded) to feature top Indian cricket stars, if a report in UK’s Daily Mail is to be believed.
Teams competing in ‘The Hundred’ will play an innings of 100 balls in this format. While 15 overs of six balls will be bowled, the 16th over will consist of 10 balls.
“India’s all-powerful cricket authority, the BCCI, which bans its players from overseas T20 tournaments to protect their market-leading Indian Premier League, are understood to be considering making an exception for the Hundred because it is played over 100 balls compared to 120,” Daily Mail reports.
According to the report, BCCI’s decision to allow the Indian players to participate in the 100-ball an innings tournament would serve as a bargaining chip for negotiations around an IPL franchise in London.
“Having Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and other top Indians playing would be an immense boost for the Hundred in its inaugural year, especially when England’s Test players will not be involved. It would also be a helpful bargaining chip for future negotiations around an IPL franchise in London,” the report said.
Over the years, England too have softened their stand on the IPL. English internationals in the IPL were a rare sight in the initial couple of years of the Indian Premier League, however, that has changed completely in the past few years.
Ben Stokes has been the most expensive buy in the IPL for two consecutive auctions while the likes of Jos Buttler, by the virtue of their IPL performance, have gotten call-ups to the national side.
