Kolkata: The Indian Premier League has undoubtedly been one of the most popular T20 leagues in the world ever since it’s inception. There have been talks in recent times, of the BCCI organising a, ‘mini IPL’ and according to reports from Gulf News, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla talked about the possible venue for the tournament when he said, “Dubai will be most favoured destination for the mini IPL.”
Shukla said the slot for the now defunct Champions League T20 is still vacant and that might be used for the ‘mini’ version of the IPL overseas.
He said, “One concept that we are deliberating and considering is launching a mini edition of the IPL overseas. We have seen that there is huge attraction for IPL overseas. Earlier, we used to stage our Champions League T20 abroad and that slot is still vacant. We are thinking of a mini edition in that slot.”
Recently, Vivo bagged the sponsorship rights for the tournament for a whopping ₹2199 crore which thus makes the tournament the richest in the world. Speaking on this, Shukla was optimistic about the future of the IPL, and said the tournament in the coming years could really become exciting if with the new revenue sharing model coming into play.
“The next 10 years are going to be interesting. We are changing the revenue sharing model. Earlier franchises took the license fee but now they will be sharing the revenue with the BCCI. Another important thing is about tenders for the broadcasters. In fact, broadcasters’ tenders will be out in July and we are expecting manifold rise in it,” he said.
There has been a lot of speculations about the number of teams in the premier T20 competition and Shukla agreed that things could be tricky if there is an increase in that number as for 10 teams to play, a minimum of 84 matches needs to be played for which time could stand out to be a constraint.
“So far we have decided for eight teams only, otherwise the season will get extended and that will be a problem. If we go for 10 teams, we will have to stage minimum 84 matches. However, the governing council will be considering it but so far the tender will be only for eight teams,” said Shukla.
He also praised the timing of the IPL, which ended right before the Champions Trophy this year. He felt that it helped the players stay fit for the global tournament and put up a good show in the same.
“The Indian players had played in the IPL before the Champions Trophy and so they were already fit and were in rhythm. IPL also creates bonhomie among the players as they have been playing together for different teams,” said Shukla.