Punjab co-owner wants the Indian T20 league to be divided into two parts
The Indian T20 League has grown into a huge brand ever since its inception in the year 2008. The popularity of the league has turned it into a festival in the nation that is celebrated every year. Now that the league is setting new records in terms of viewership and the media rights deal, the co-owner of the Punjab franchise Ness Wadia has put forward his wish of seeing two halves of the league in a year. One being in India and the other half overseas.
Wadia said that the time has now arrived to explore the full potential of the league by hosting it in a new country every season as Indians are present everywhere.
“Indian T20 league has taken cricket to the global level. It has provided the spark cricket needed and made it a global sport. It will get even bigger. Having said that, seven matches at home, it is way too less. It should be a minimum of 14. I really see a much longer season which is long overdue,” said Ness Wadia, as quoted by Cricket Addictor.
“If you can’t have a long season of four months why not look at two seasons, one in India and one in a different country every year. Indians are everywhere around the world. There is huge potential for having many more games,” said Wadia.
Asked why the home games need to be doubled, he said: “It is a logical reason. How much are seven matches at home? Too few in my opinion. There has to be a bigger window. In per match value, the league is bigger than EPL now and look at the number of games each team plays there (38).”
The BCCI president is already in talks with the other cricket boards to have a separate window for the league every year so that all international stars could feature in the T20 extravaganza.
With the T20 leagues of various countries growing in value every year, cricket pundits fear the future of bilateral cricket series among nations.
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