By: Drcricket7 Staff
Staging 10 teams in the IPL should be the last priority of the Indian cricket board (BCCI). With two teams – Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals – not able to take part in the cash-rich T20 league of the world for the next two years to serve their bans imposed by the Justice Lodha Panel — the most logical way out is to replace both CSK and the Royals with two new teams or new managements for next two years.
This may sound unrealistic to those who sit on the fence. But to the ones who have closely worked with the board or still associated with the BCCI will tell you that inviting tenders for two new teams for next two years is the best option to explore under the present circumstances.
Reason? With so much of cricket already being played, a few more IPL matches won’t help the system. If you have a 10- team IPL from the 2018 season – which can happen if the board auctions two new teams – the league will go on till June.
The board isn’t scared of number of matches, which could possible go up from 60 to 74 with a jump of two more teams. In 2010, BCCI had worked out a formula for a 10-team tournament. There was a plan to play 70 league matches plus four play-off matches with each team having the same number of matches (14 of which 7 home and 7 away) as in the previous IPL editions.
The plan was to have one league table with teams divided into 2 groups of 5 teams each. Then, each team would play the other four teams in its group twice – home and away. It was discussed then that four of the five teams in the other group will play once – home OR away.
One of the five teams in the other group will play twice – home and away. The groups was supposed to be decided by a random draw, and similarly, which team would play the other from the other group twice (home and away) or once (home OR away) will also be decided by a random draw. BCCI could use this formula again if 10 teams play IPL from the 2018 season onward.
But it all depends on what the BCCI is looking at. Earlier, the board had committed to stage 94 matches with 10 teams, which never became a reality. More than anything else, it is a logistic nightmare to manage an event as big as the IPL with 10 teams.
Somewhere down the line, the board mandarins are also aware of the fact that India doesn’t have such a huge talent pool to support 10 IPL teams. Even support eight teams is quite a big deal. It can be best explained by the performance of the Kings XI Punjab in last two seasons. In the 2014 IPL season, the Kings were the runners-up because two of their Australia recruits were in top form –Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson.
However, Kings’ fortune dipped when these same two Australia stars, after having a great World Cup, couldn’t match their previous year’s performance in this year’s IPL. The next big question: Will there be any takers for two teams for next two years?
BCCI must offer a guarantee profit margin to these new teams for two years of at least Rs 10 crore or more. It is only then, a few financial institutions could think of participating in the auction. Certainly, the road ahead of IPL is tough, but a few innovative moves can retain the sanctity of the league for sure!
