MUMBAI: After the manufactured brouhaha, a reality check. The Indian Premier League (IPL) will, NOT surprisingly, continue to be an eight-team affair next season. And likely beyond that for the near to mid term, SportzPower is convinced.
The debate of increasing the number of teams to 10 has proved to be nothing but a hoax, DNA reports.
Two top BCCI officials have categorically denied of any such plans to the daily. “BCCI has not even had any discussion on this front and there is no truth in this matter,” was how one of the board officials quipped.
According to DNA, a powerful section within the BCCI did try to spread this rumour last week that there is a serious discussion over increasing the number of IPL teams from next season during a meeting of the franchise owners and the league’s other stakeholders in London last week.
“Having 10 teams simply means more number of matches and more number of days. This is not possible because of the ‘window’ provided by ICC. The only way to have more teams will certainly mean that that IPL will have more day games, and that’s simply not a great idea considering the feedback of cricket lovers till date,” a board official told DNA.
“Practically speaking, IPL takes place during summer and it will be cruel on the players if more day games are staged,” said the other official.
Representative of at least four of the eight franchises contacted by DNA on Tuesday denied being part of any such discussion. “Why would eight teams want to share the revenue with two more teams?” a franchise official asked.
Another important factor here is that an IPL expansion has to be approved by the tournament’s (IPL) governing council and that doesn’t exist at the moment. “The TV rights’ deal was sealed with only eight teams in mind. It has to be renegotiated in case of any increase in the number of matches or teams,” an IPL team official told the daily.
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