MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) could well become a bilateral-free window during the months of April and May after 2019.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India presented a revised schedule to that effect at the two day meet of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Singapore on 7 and 8 December. The ICC’s meet was attended by the chief executives who discussed a detailed presentation on the Future Tour Program (FTP) from each member board of the parent body.
The Times of India reports that an effort has been made by the BCCI to ensure that all member boards of the ICC will keep their respective cricketers free of all bilateral commitments, thus obliging the IPL with a thorough participation. Only the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is still to commit to the two-month window, which India believes will come through soon, the report says.
The BCCI is confident the ECB will keep itself free of any overseas commitments in April and May when the IPL is played. This new window for the next rights cycle beginning after the 2019 ICC World Cup will now be brought up at the BCCI’s Special General Body (SGM) meeting in New Delhi on Monday (December 11), the report says.
In the revised FTP presented by the BCCI, the board mentions that it will not play away from home between October and November, and February and March, in the next rights cycle from 2019 to 2023. India are scheduled to tour England and Australia in 2018, post the IPL’s 11th edition.
When the time comes to tour these countries in the next rights cycle, the BCCI has proposed – after suggestions from the Indian team management – that it intends to break these tours into two parts consisting Tests (on one tour) and One-day Internationals and T20 Internationals (on the next tour). England and Australia, for instance, have followed such a policy for years.
A draft of this revised FTP was shared with the office-bearers of BCCI, who will attend the Monday SGM of the board, the report says.
