Ex-IPL COO Sundar Raman predicts 10-team IPL to return from 2022

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is arguably the biggest and the most popular T20 franchise-based tournaments in the world. Over the years, the IPL has gone through several changes in order to expand itself. The IPL is in its 13th edition and it seems like there still lies room for its expansion. According to former IPL COO Sundar Raman, the expansion could happen in terms of the number of teams in the next 2-3 years.

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A 10-team IPL is on the cards in the next 2-3 years: Former IPL COO Sundar Raman

In 2011, the Indian Premier League, while only in its fourth edition, took a big step to introduce two more teams, Kochi and Pune to make the league a 10-team affair. However, that didn’t last too long. The Kochi franchise was terminated by BCCI ahead of the following season in 2012 and the league had nine franchises in the next two seasons. In 2014, the tournament went back to its eight-team format after Pune decided to pull out due to financial differences with the board.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Sundar Raman revealed that the tournament could be played for 10 weeks considering the increase in the number of teams. He added that the tournament has grown massively in the past few years. According to what Sundar Raman has said, it seems BCCI would take the opportunity to expand the league in the upcoming years as it seems to be a need now.

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Sundar Raman further said that if the tournament has more teams, it would mean more matches will be played. He added that this could result in a situation where the league collides with the international calendar, which the BCCI has tried to avoid. Several countries have come together and tried to keep a window for the tournament as they want their players to feature in the league.

However, Sundar Raman pointed out that the board needs to chalk out a structure where every international team benefits financially from the tournament. He further said that Pakistan players have been restricted from IPL since 2009 and added that it is also very rare that a player from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Zimbabwe gets an opportunity in the league.

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Sundar Raman reveals consequences on the cricketing economy if IPL 2020 gets cancelled

While speaking to The Times of India, Sundar Raman said that the cancellation of both the events (IPL 2020 & T20 World Cup) will have a serious impact on cricket economics for this year. However, in the case of an ICC event, as the contracts run through till 2023, deferring it to 2022 may be possible without loss of revenues. But not hosting an IPL or bilateral series of any country will lead to a loss in revenues, which is far from desirable.

Sundar Raman, who is presently the CEO of the sporting arm of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which also owns the Mumbai Indians, added that the IPL remains the single biggest event for the global cricket economy. With a contribution of around 1/3rd of global cricket revenues annually, the importance of IPL cricket's global economy cannot be overstressed. Raman claimed that with cricket's economy estimated at $1.9 billion, IPL contributes to 40% of its revenues, which comes to approximately $760 million.

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IMAGE COURTESY: INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE INSTAGRAM