Is franchise cricket being more preferred than international cricket?

The Indian Premier League (IPL) will get bigger from next year. Instead of the regular eight teams, as many as 10 teams will participate in the tournament. And, that would mean that more IPL matches will be played next year, and the tournament might run for a two-month time frame.

So, for two months, the Indian players will not take part in international cricket. And, when the IPL takes place, even other international teams generally try to avoid scheduling a major series, as the eyeballs are grabbed by the IPL. Also, there have been occasions where players have chosen to play the IPL and even contemplate skipping national duty.

Apart from the IPL, a plethora of other leagues have come up in different parts of the world. The Big Bash League (BBL) is a regular affair in Australia, the Pakistan Cricket Board conducts the Pakistan Super League (PSL) every year, there is the Caribbean Premier League as well, and currently, the 2021 edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) is underway.

So, is franchise cricket taking over the sport? Is franchise cricket getting more preference than even international cricket?

The former coach of the Indian cricket team Ravi Shastri also opined that he would like to see less bilateral T20 cricket and more franchise cricket. The former Indian cricketer also opined that cricket should emulate football in this regard.

“I would like to see less and less bilateral T20 cricket. Look at football. You have the Premier League, the Spanish league, the Italian league, the German league. They all come together [for the Champions League]. There are few bilateral football [friendlies] now,” said Ravi Shastri as quoted by The Guardian.

Also, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made a whopping INR 4000 Crores by conducting the 2020 edition of the IPL. Star India has agreed to pay a sum of INR 16347 Crores for broadcasting the IPL for five years, and the popularity of the IPL is not matched by any other cricket tournament in the world.

So, franchise cricket has takers. It is consumed by millions. Since franchise cricket typically happens in the T20 format, the viewer also saves a lot of time, and at the same time, gets high-quality entertainment.

Franchise cricket has started gaining more importance and has started getting more preference both from cricket boards as well as from the players, and there is no doubting that. So, don’t be surprised if franchise cricket takes over, and less and less international cricket is played in the coming times.