IPL vs international cricket: Once the game resumes, what should be the main event?

When the Indian Premier League first began, most thought the BCCI had quickly put together an idea to counter the Indian Cricket League. The first auction saw $42 million being spent signing 78 players for a seven-week tournament and truth to told, it seemed like a lot of money at that point. Never before in Indian sports history had dollars been thrown about with such gay abandon.

But even as the IPL continued to gain in relevance and might, the ‘country vs country’ version of cricket continued to persist. In India, it was helped by the T20 World Cup triumph in 2007 and the ODI World Cup win in 2011. The good showing across formats also meant that Indian fans remained interested.

It is an uneasy balance – with so many cricketers now clearly preferring the shorter format – but one that many believe cricket needs to maintain. However, as cricket has come to a stop due to the coronavirus pandemic, one can’t help but wonder what cricket and cricketers will need more on resumption… the IPL or international cricket?

One might argue that for the financial health of the game and all those people around it, India will want to host the IPL more than international cricket. It will not only kickstart the economy but also boost the livelihood of thousands of those involved with the league.

While the number of players involved with the Indian national team is anywhere between 15-20, the number for the IPL is much larger. Then, there are the logistic teams, the staff of each franchise, the broadcasters, the workers at each venue. So the employment opportunities will also be greater. In essence, it might help more people than international cricket. And isn’t that what we need?

Big impact

The IPL is the big-ticket event of the Indian calendar. It brings in way more money than international cricket and that has been the case for a while.

The media rights, which were worth Rs 236 crore in 2008, brought in Rs 4087 crore in 2019.
The sponsorship that the event brings in has gone from a sum total of Rs.111 crore in 2008 to Rs. 618 crore for the 2018-2022 cycle.

In the first 10 years, the disbursement of money from the Net Central Distribution to the franchises was an average of Rs. 27.5 crore per team in 2008 to an average of Rs. 79.6 crore in 2017. Then, came the huge deal with Star Sports and the average share of each team also jumped up to Rs. 271 crore in 2018.

In its financial projections for 2018, the BCCI had indicated that the 45-day IPL window will earn over 1,600% more than the remaining 320 days’ total revenues during the year. Simply put, the IPL accounted for over 95% of the board’s surplus.

It seems almost impossible to host the IPL in the current window. Even after the lockdown ends, it will be difficult to know when exactly regular cricket will be allowed to resume. There will be questions over visas for the foreign players and even whether players should be exposed to the risk. There has been some talk about how the BCCI may be looking at a window in October to try and host a shorter tournament if possible.

Now, the ICC may have a problem with that because it may rob international cricket of some big players but the question ahead of the BCCI will be whether they should have the IPL regardless of international cricket, like the Big Bash League in Australia which is played alongside the regular international season?

Leave the choice of whether to complete or not to the players. Those who want to play in the IPL should be welcomed. Those who don’t can always do it next year. Some might say that having fewer international players, will rob the tournament of quality but others will argue that it might be better to have something rather than nothing at all.

In the end, it will not be an easy choice to make but one that must be made with so many parameters in mind.

What do you think needs to happen: Should the IPL be played because it will help more people or do you think cricket needs to just carry on with international cricket? Let us know in the comments section.