“Two IPL seasons in a year,” to meet Television Demand: Ravi Shastri: While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is still getting over the massive windfall by the addition of the two new teams to the league, the demand for multiple seasons per year has come up following the success of the mega Indian T20 tournament.
Ravi Shastri has recently predicted that the IPL will expand to two individual seasons in a year with the second season being short and similar to the World Cup format.
In the Vaughany and Tuffers CC podcast, Shastri, the former Indian head coach, said to meet the television demands for more IPL content, one more season can be added.
“I think you might have two [IPL] seasons,” said Shastri. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all. If bilateral cricket is reduced, you might well have a shorter format of the IPL in the latter half of the year, more like a World Cup format with a knockout that decides the winner.
He also said that the number of teams may go up in the future and there will be an increase in the number of games per season along with the stretch in the IPL window.
“The full competition with 10 teams could go to 12 teams in the future with the schedule stretching from one-and-a-half to two months.”
Ravi Shastri, who is currently working as an expert, added that the expansion and growing popularity of the IPL is good for the sport.
“All that is possible because it is driven by the money and supply and demand. The demand is big for that type of format. The IPL will be tempted to go in that direction,” he said. “It’s great for the sport, great for the players, broadcasters and people who work around the teams. It’s [the IPL] an industry on its own now.”
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T20I Bilateral Cricket should be reduced: Ravi Shastri
Shastri reckons that the number of bilaterals can be reduced and the focus should be on franchise cricket across the globe as far as the T20s are concerned.
“I would be a little careful of the number of bilateral splits, especially in T20 cricket. There’s a lot of franchise cricket that can be encouraged, whichever country it’s in – India, West Indies, or Pakistan. You play fewer bilaterals and then you get together for the World Cups. So the emphasis on ICC World Cup events has become paramount. Then people look forward to them,” said Shastri.
Notably, the international scheduling and packed international fixtures came under scrutiny following Ben Stokes’ retirement from the format owing to the excessive workload.
Stokes’ in his argument said cricketers’ aren’t cars that just require fuel to run over and over again every time.
“We are not cars, you can’t just fill us up and we’ll go out there and be ready to be fuelled up again,” said England all-rounder Ben Stokes after taking his ODI retirement.
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