Why don't IPL be two separate halves every year: Punjab Kings owner
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Mumbai: One among Punjab Kings owners, Ness Wadia, said that the Indian Premer League should be separated into two halves as the number of matches is announced to be increased. His opinion surfaces after recent BCCI secretary Jai Shah's statement that the number of matches per season might reach 94 over the next five years, PTI reported.
The recent bidding of IPL broadcast rights has earned BCCI Rs 48390 crore, three times more than the last cycle.
Talking to PTI, Ness Wadia congratulated Shah and BCCI for an innovative media rights strategy and praised the annual event, stating that IPL will be getting the long-awaited bigger season as well as more home games.
He stated that the current set-up of seven home matches is very few and expects at least fourteen. And he suggested that if a four-month season seems too long, it could be made into two seasons, one in India and the next in some other country, every year. "There is huge potential for having many more games," said Wadia.
While teams eight teams played seven home and as many as away games until last year. This year ten teams played, each playing the regular 14 games, but not the same number of home and away games as before.
"It is a logical reason. How much are seven matches at home? Too few, in my opinion. There has to be a bigger window. In per match value, the IPL is bigger than EPL now and look at the number of games each team plays there (38)," He said.
Supporting some expert's opinion that leagues are dominating the cricket calendar, Wadia said, "I would say it is already happening. There is no doubt that will eventually happen. The IPL has revived, grown and globalised cricket. And believe me, it is the tip of the iceberg. The tournament has been around for 15 years, and the window should have become bigger many years ago. It is long overdue. And it will happen. For how long can you keep the genie in the bottle."
When asked about the pressure players going to face as well as the fatigue factor when IPL is prolonged, he said, "At some point, we will have to factor in that also. That is where the creativity comes, and we can see how leagues are run around the world. We are long away from fatigue at the moment. We will cross the bridge when we get there."