IPL 2018: All eight franchises are not in favor to tinker with the match-timings

The eleventh edition of the franchise based T20 tournament, Indian Premier League, the IPL 2018  is around the corner and excitement amongst fans and players has already reached the highest echelon. However, there’s one major issue which needs to be sorted before the start of this mega event. If the sources are to be believed, all eight franchise is not in favor to tinker with the match timings and they have reportedly opposed the proposal offered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The broadcasting rights for this season was taken over by Star India at a whopping price of over 16000 crores for a stint of five years. Seeing the popularity of the sport and having crisp knowledge of the viewership, Star India had proposed an idea to shift match-timings for the double-header games, which happen on weekends. They said the matches will start at 5.30 PM and 7 PM instead of the traditional 4 PM and 8 PM starts.

Not in favor of the proposal

However, it is learnt that the eight IPL team, Mumbai Indians (MI), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Delhi Daredevils (DD), Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have shot down the idea and believe that overlapping will result in losing out the viewers.

A franchise official quoted to The Indian Express, “There will be no problem on days with just a single match but there will be a big one when there are doubleheaders. They won’t get the complete three-hour quota and instead will have to share it with two matches. The overlap will result in one-and-a-half hours of each IPL match losing out on viewers.”

IPL will kick off on 7th April and the cricketing carnival will continue for seven long weeks. Also, the final decision will be taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, as whether to tinker with the timings or keep as they were for last decade.