BCCI approves 10-team IPL from 2022 season at its Annual General Meeting

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally decided to expand the Indian Premier League (IPL) by adding two new franchises in 2022 after getting the approval in the 89th Annual General Meeting (AGM), hosted in Ahmedabad. It was speculated for a long time that BCCI is looking forward to adding two new teams in the Indian T20 League but there was uncertainty on whether it will be done in 2021 or 2022.

This was one of the focal points of discussion among the office-bearers in the AGM but after weighing the pros and cons, the Indian board decided to expand the tournament from IPL 2022. The three-member Governing Council – comprising chairman Brijesh Patel, Khairul Jamal Majumdar, and Pragyan Ojha – have been asked to start the process of expansion for IPL 2022.

This decision was made as a majority of stakeholders felt that adding two new teams in IPL 2021 and conducting a mega-auction will be a herculean task for the Indian board as the 14th edition of the league is just a couple of months away. Also, the new franchises would have gotten very little time to build a competitive team.

Further, conducting a 10-team IPL means 94 games and a nearly two and a half month window. This is going to affect the international calendar and the availability of the top overseas players for the entire duration of the league would also have been doubtful. In addition, the broadcast money per year which is for 60 matches also needs to be re-negotiated. Thus, BCCI will be working on all the aforementioned tasks and will come up with a plan of 10-franchise IPL from 2022.

Rajiv Shukla appointed as the vice-president of BCCI

Meanwhile, it is learned that the Board decided in favour of former Indian captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly continuing as a director in International Cricket Council (ICC) board while secretary Jay Shah will be the alternate director as well as India’s representative at the Chief Executive Committee meets of the global body. Rajiv Shukla was also elected unopposed as the vice-president of BCCI in the meeting.

In another decision, the Indian board has decided that the cricketers and the officials will be compensated in case domestic tournaments are curtailed or abandoned due to unwanted scenarios. However, BCCI wishes to host the pending domestic leagues in the month of February and May after concluding the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which begins on January 10.