Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg opens up on possibility of Virat Kohli playing BBL
"I would love to see, Virat Kohli playing in the BBL this year. That would certainly create some interest in crowds and ratings, I'm sure," Cricket Australia (CA) CEO Todd Greenberg said.
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Cricket Australia (CA) CEO Todd Greenberg revealed his desire to have Virat Kohli participate in the Big Bash League (BBL). While several Indian female cricketers - including Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, and Harmanpreet Kaur - have featured in the Women’s BBL, their male counterparts have not been allowed to take part in the T20 tournament due to Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) restrictions.
The BCCI prohibits male cricketers from taking part in leagues around the world unless they have retired from all forms of Indian cricket.
Greenberg explained that the presence of Indian stars like Kohli will help attract more spectators to the grounds, and the TV ratings will also go up substantially. However, he clarified that while conversations are ongoing with the BCCI, it hasn't come to fruition as yet.
“We would love to welcome some Indian players to the BBL. That would be fantastic. That's certainly some conversations that we will continue to have with the BCCI. I mean, I would love to see, Virat Kohli playing in the BBL this year. That would certainly create some interest in crowds and ratings, I'm sure. But at the moment, that's not happening, but we do have our ambitions to do those types of things,” Greenberg said in a virtual media interaction by Cricket Australia.
Greenberg also spoke about the growing involvement of Indian investors in global cricket leagues, for instance, their acquisition of teams in The Hundred - specifically the Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, and Manchester Originals.
“As you're seeing all over the world, T20 leagues are going down a lot of the private investment, opportunities. We're seeing that in England recently with the Hundred. A number of the IPL franchises are now taking ownership stakes in the Hundred. So we've got to again, it goes to the same message I've been talking about. We've got to continue to evolve and innovate the way we run our business here in Australia and making sure that we have an open mind to new things,” Greenberg added.
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