Not even thinking of hosting IPL outside India: Anurag Thakur

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said that the board doesn’t have any plans for a mini IPL in the USA for now, as it is put on hold with the T20 internationals being the priority in the US market.

Thakur said that the time zone difference is the major issue with the matches being hosted in the USA. Matches should start at 10am US time and that is not the best time to draw the audience to the grounds on mid-week fixtures.

“I think we must understand the time difference,” Thakur told ESPNcricinfo. “IPL is seen in India from 7 o’clock to 11 or 11.30 at night. So you have to play somewhere on the east coast here (USA) so [that] the timing matches. If we have to play in the day here, the matches should be seen in India at night because broadcasting is a big thing. So you can’t make your home fan lose [by] playing outside India. So which are the provinces you can play in the United States? That’s a big task.”

Speaking about the Indian Premier League (IPL), he lamented that the board has no plans at all to host IPL outside India. “IPL, we are not even thinking of hosting it outside India. It has to be hosted in India, but there are many other options what you can do which we’ll let you know over a period of time when we come out with a long-term plan for this market.”

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The USA and UAE were the options discussed at the IPL governing council and working committee meetings earlier this year. “We have to look into various details: which country we can play in, how many teams, how many players should participate, who will be the broadcaster – all these issues need to deliberated, but we are keen to play in that [September] window,” Thakur had said in June.

India will take part in the next series starting on September 22, which is a home Test series against New Zealand and the window is open until then for BCCI.