The league’s administrators will meet in the north Indian hill town of Dharamsala on Friday to identify a timeslot for the tournament and take a final call on the venue. “There, which will see the participation of all the top stars this time since its being was turned down, and we’re now considering the possibility of playing a short duration (10-15 days) tournament in the UAE or the United States, in which all the eight teams can take part”, a senior Board official told this paper on Thursday.
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The BCCI has been on the lookout for an IPL-like tournament during the September window since scrapping the Champions League T20 a year ago.
He said, “In the month of September, the BCCI is willing to host a mini IPL or IPL overseas with all the eight teams participating”, reports ESPNCricinfo. The format will be shorter with less number of matches.
Some of the sticking points that needs to be sorted if the mini IPL is to go through this year include players’ salaries, sponsorship deals and broadcasting rights.
He said the smaller tournament would last about two weeks.
This mini IPL will most likely be organised in the USA, although there is no officially announcement regarding the venue of this new IPL. The technical committee, led by Sourav Ganguly, felt that playing all league matches at neutral venues would “rule out the issues related to preparing specific wickets for home teams, as well to expose players in different conditions”. “I think the word “Control” should be replaced by “Care”, BCCI President Anurag Thakur told the Times of India.
The Twenty20 tournament will host the eight teams that already compete in the seven-week format in India.
The Mini-IPL is expected to be held outside India, with the U.S. reportedly in line to be one of the hosts. The BCCI and the state units will work together towards promotion and marketing of global matches. “We’ll speak to the franchises, to the broadcaster, and look at the revenue model before finalising the dates and the format”.
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In another big change to domestic cricket, the Committee announced a new T20 league in place of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Once the state-level tournament is over, a board (state unit representatives) will be formed and they will appoint a CEO and selectors to select teams from the respective zones.
