The Lucrative Indian Premier League Stops Cricket Globally, But Some Nations Are Pushing Back

As the calendar flips into April, with cricket in the southern hemisphere making way for various football codes, the lucrative Indian Premier League takes over.

The major cricket countries essentially are forced to shut down for two months to accommodate the increasingly cash-rich IPL, which last year enjoyed a media rights windfall worth $6 billion. It is the second richest deal across all sports on a per game basis.

Top players in the world are lured on huge pay packets of over a million dollars for an eight-week tournament. It means national governing bodies – such as Australia and England – have to concede the reality that they can’t schedule series during this period.

Since starting in 2008, the IPL has gradually expanded as the investment continues to swell in a cricket-mad country that is overtaking China as the world’s most populous.

India’s all-powerful cricket governing body’s (BBCI) long-term strategy, according to sources, is to stretch the tournament up to six months akin to the NBA which essentially transcends basketball.

Whether the IPL could ever conquer the hearts and minds of global cricket fans is debatable given its irrelevance beyond South Asia and the sport’s country vs country traditions – although that is in jeopardy given the sprouting of domestic T20 leagues many with an IPL footprint.

While the IPL is the main cash cow for India’s governing body – and a major source of remuneration for those involved – it is a hindrance for many smaller cricket nations whose players are largely ignored.

While Pakistanis are banned – the elephant in the room – due to the continual political differences between the warring foes. Pakistan players have not been allowed to compete since the first edition in 2008 in a travesty that is hardly scrutinized enough.

Discussions have started from Pakistan and smaller Full Members on how to ensure their countries can at least play among themselves during the IPL with the powerhouses of India, Australia and England effectively sidelined.

Zimbabwe chair Tavengwa Mukuhlani, using leverage built from his brief challenge during the ICC chair election last November, has formed a working group alongside New Zealand’s Martin Sneddon and England’s Martin Darlow looking at international cricket’s fixturing.

Mukuhlani, naturally, has been exploring ways to get more fixtures for long neglected Zimbabwe, who have not played a Test match against India, Australia or England since 2006.

Only star allrounder Sikandar Raza, who is making his debut aged 36, was selected in the IPL. There have been just three other Zimbabweans who have played in a competition that is now in its 16th edition.

Mukuhlani has proposed annual triangular or quadrangular white-ball series during April-May for countries with limited or no players competing in the IPL. Countries could include Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Bangladesh and eventually hoped to become cemented in the annual fixtures.

As per usual, mirroring the sport itself, things are likely to move slowly on this front with the Future Tours Programme already brimming to capacity. To lure teams, especially coveted England who previously didn’t play them due to political differences, Mukuhlani hopes teams touring nearby South Africa can make stopovers to neglected Zimbabwe.

But it proved too difficult to arrange on short-notice earlier in the year when England toured South Africa for a brief ODI series and a drought-breaking series between Zimbabwe and England appears a long way off.

While Mukuhlani and his counterparts from similar-sized cricket countries strategize, another season of the IPL is well underway amid the bright lights to hog the cricket headlines for some time to come.

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