It’s no longer a secret that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been cooking quite big changes for the next season of the Indian Premier League. The talks of the BCCI wanting to add two new franchises to the IPL has been around for a while and initially, it was thought that this change will take place on the current IPL season.
The upcoming changes will be something that many fans would look forward to. It would surely change how people will have to follow the IPL matches and do IPL Betting at 10CRIC.com and other betting sites. The addition of two franchises will just really mean that the tournament will be bigger and longer.
What We Know About the Changes So Far
So far, the BCCI has already finalized the blueprint for the new IPL with two new franchises. This blueprint also includes player retention, a mega auction, media coverage, and salary increments. The start of the rollout is said to start on August 2021 and will most likely be completed by January 2022.
Here’s what the timeline looks like so far:
- Mid-August: Release of tender documents concerning the two new franchises
- Mid-October: Introduction of the additional teams
- December: Mega Auction
- Mid-January: Tender document for the sale of the media rights
For the franchises retaining the players, they must be able to deduct the specified sums from their salary before heading into an auction. The current salary deduction for the IPL looks like this: Rs 15 cr. Rs 11 cr, and Rs 7 cr. This is if three players will be retained by the franchise. However, come next year, it will look like this: RS 12.5 cr and Rs 8.5 cr for two retained players. If there will only be one retained player, it will be Rs 12.5 cr.
Overall, the salary purse will be increased by Rs 2 cr (85 to 90). The BCCI will also only allow the franchises to retain only four players max. However, this might still change before things are officially finalized. The set conditions for player retention also include retaining three Indian players and one overseas player or two Indian players and two overseas players.
A franchise executive talked about the changes in retention and said, “What this would mean is the cream of Indian cricket will be retained by the existing teams. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not going away anywhere. Perhaps teams like KKR and RR who rely heavily on their overseas match winners may have to release key players.” With that, we can assume that not a lot are happy about the said changes.
Regarding the media rights, the BCCI is planning a big auction before the year ends. The board is expecting at least a 25 percent increase in the value of the media rights moving forward. However, no broadcasters are likely ready just yet to have a total of 94 matches with the two new teams.
A BCCI official spoke to Hindustan Times about this and said, “We are not ready for 94 matches yet. Our broadcasters are not ready. There are issues around overseas player availability and finding a suitable window. We will consider a bigger window in future years.”
The flow of the Matches With 10 Teams In Total
Regarding the flow of the matches with the additional two new franchises, it is likely that the tournament will have a 74-match format instead of 94 matches including playoffs. A 94-match season will just need a longer window that is more than two and a half months as this would mean that all ten teams will have to go against each other. Factor in the home and away matches and the playoffs.
While this is doable, some people think that this might be a problem. One Star Sports broadcaster thinks that fans may eventually lose interest in the last few matches as this could make the tournament predictable.
Now, when it comes to holding the tournament with 74 matches, just like how the BCCI has done it in 2011 when the IPL had 10 teams, this will mean that the teams will be divided into two groups of five. The franchises will then play 14 league games each. The teams from Group A will have to play four home and away matches within the group, one home and away match with a team from Group B, and four matches with the other teams in that group. The other four matches can be home or away and will be based on a random draw.
