NEW DELHI Reuters: – Despite the introduction of other franchise-based events worldwide, the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) reputation as the best Twenty20 league is safe, its chairman Arun Singh Dhumal told Reuters.
With an estimated $8.4 billion brand value, the IPL continues to draw the best players and coaches in the globe thanks to the type of money that T20 tournaments like Australia and England can only dream of.
But things are changing; this year, profitable leagues began in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, and next month, Major League Cricket will begin play in the United States.
Even if there are more opportunities for players to use their skills than ever before, Dhumal felt certain that the IPL will continue to dominate franchise cricket.
“We don’t see anyone else as our competition, there is none even close to IPL,” he told Reuters over the phone. The boards who are launching their own T20 competitions have our best wishes, but I don’t believe any of them can compete with the IPL.
The excellent viewing figures for this year’s IPL, which ended on Monday, particularly from the league’s digital partner, are the basis for Dhumal’s belief.
More than 120 million unique viewers, with a high concurrent audience of 32.1 million, saw Chennai Super Kings defeat Gujarat Titans in a thrilling final, according to a statement released by Jio Cinema on Wednesday. “It has been a phenomenal success, and largely because of the sheer competitiveness of this year’s tournament,” Dhumal said.
There were several last-over thrillers, and the majority of the games were close. The fans responded to us amazingly. Our broadcast and digital partners are thrilled as a result of the substantial increase in viewing.Even the fan experience inside the stadium has been amazing, and it will only get better moving ahead.
Since the IPL’s debut in 2008, its popularity has not decreased, and the Indian cricket board’s (BCCI) regulation prohibiting its players from competing in other competitions has contributed to ensuring its dominance.
Dhumal said that the IPL will continue to have ten teams, but that if it were given a larger window in the calendar created by the International Cricket Council (ICC), its regulatory body, the number of matches—currently 74 every season—might increase to 94.
Although the IPL provides most of its participants with sums of money that may change their lives, the international cricketers’ organisation has urged for players to get a larger portion of the league’s earnings.
Dhumal, though, said that there had been no talk of raising the $11.5 million maximum on franchise salaries. Before making a decision, “we will have to consult the franchises and team owners,” he stated. “While there are still 10 months until the next IPL, there needs to be a lot of discussion before anything like that happens,”
Additionally, Dhumal, a senior BCCI official, denied media rumours that the IPL planned to host games in Saudi Arabia or assist the oil-rich nation in establishing its own T20 league.
According to Dhumal, “the ICC’s job is to grow the game outside of the traditional pockets.” Although the BCCI has aided countries in the past, a T20 league in Saudi Arabia is purely speculative.