IPL franchises discuss new teams, BCCI looking for stability

The 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was a witness to eight teams, fighting it out with Mumbai Indians (MI) winning the championship for the fourth time. The Rohit Sharma-led franchise defeated MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. CSK has also won the trophy three times in the history of the IPL.

However, in 2020, there could be 10 teams. Recently, a meeting took place between the IPL franchises and the stakeholders where the franchises want an expansion of the league to 10 teams. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) isn’t averse to the idea, but the officials want all bases covered first. Back in 2011, the league had to go back from 10 teams to eight due to certain issues.

A senior official in the world’s richest cricket board mentioned that calculated steps need to be taken and the functionaries in the board need to help the franchises understand the ground reality before taking a step in that direction. The official thrashed a few people for creating miscommunications in order to hide their competence.

The first order of the day is to bring sanity

“They are our stakeholders and the BCCI shares a very good relationship with the franchisees. We are concerned that such opaque behaviour and casual statements and remarks by someone in the senior professional management can unnecessarily mar the trust and relation between the BCCI and the franchisees,” the official was quoted as saying in Outlook.

“Some people seem to thrive in creating misunderstandings in order to compensate for their lack of competence. When the time comes, we will have a sincere dialogue with the franchisees on this. Even we want new teams, but we must take into account ground realities.”

The official also was clear-cut in saying that the BCCI should primarily focus on bringing stability before thinking about involving 10 teams in the tournament. The official called for finding resolutions to the ongoing problems before thinking ahead.

“But some people seem to think that they have become the owners of the BCCI and that they can sell the BCCI properties on a whim only to further their own interests. They seem to be selling fantasies to those who care to believe. Who is the BCCI?

The collection of members. With the problems that have been going on for the last three years, the first order of the day is to bring sanity to the proceedings at the grassroots,” the official added.