IPL unlikely to expand to 94 games a season anytime soon, says BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "IPL unlikely to expand to 94 games a season anytime soon, says BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia")
IPL unlikely to expand to 94 games a season anytime soon: Devajit Saikia Photograph: (Others)
IPL expansion to 94 games is ruled out for now. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia reveals why a packed ICC calendar keeps the league at 74 matches.
Following reports that the BCCI is mulling starting IPL 2027 earlier to beat the harsh summer heat, the board’s secretary, Devajit Saikia, also confirmed that there are no plans to expand the number of league games from 74 to 94 each season anytime soon due to a packed international calendar. Since increasing the number of teams from eight to 10 in 2022, the BCCI has planned to expand its window and, with that, the number of matches.
As things stand, each IPL team faces a set of opponents twice and others just once under the current setup, but they had planned to introduce a full-scale round-robin format during 94 matches per season. However, this idea and its execution come with their own set of challenges, and understanding those, Saikia explained why it is not possible in the foreseeable future.
"... [T]hat is not feasible right at this moment because we have to consider many other factors regarding various players coming from various nations.
"With a lot of difficulties, we are getting this two-month window.
"It will be very difficult to go beyond two months because other countries also have to play bilateral matches...So, at this moment, there is no discussion regarding increasing matches from 74 to 94. Not happening immediately," he said.
Keeping interests of other boards and their players in forefront, Saikia noted, "In course of later years, I do not know what will be the position but right at this moment, I don't see any possibility of increasing it from 74 to 94 [matches] because for that it is not only India that is to be considered but also the interest of other cricketing nations of the ICC especially players from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, and West Indies.
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"We do not want to upset bilateral matches also, and other multi-country tournaments,” he added.
BCCI ready to squeeze domestic schedule for IPL itinerary
Saikia also revealed how the board is planning to squeeze the 7-8-month domestic season to ensure it ends early, and they could then start the upcoming IPL season earlier.
"If you look at our domestic cricket, it is a robust system which is in place. We started sometime in the later part of August with the Irani Trophy and all the matches, and it goes up to the Ranji Trophy final, which happens in the month of March.
"Already, we have about a 7-8 months long period of domestic cricket. We have to squeeze in some of the matches so that we finish our domestic cricket by the 10th of March, so that we can start it [the IPL] immediately,” Saikia concluded.
