IPL: Future challenges in the league of plenty

The IPL is on a great wicket because it's win-win for BCCI, teams and players—the stakeholders.

- Amrit Mathur

Because of the league, BCCI is a global superpower, franchises are swimming in cash and the players never had it so good. So, the big question: Where does IPL go from here?

The cricket: The 74-match IPL could be stretched to 96 because the market/broadcasters/sponsors see a commercial upside. The flip side is that excess supply could cause consumer fatigue leading to declining interest, lower viewership and sponsor apathy.

A longer IPL would also run into scheduling issues with competing leagues, Major League Cricket and The Hundred, bilateral cricket and ICC events. However, there is scope to exploit the September window for a short Champions League, or a junior IPL, some sort of a talent pipeline, a feeder system. For that, teams would have to step up investment in talent scouting and set up a network of cricket academies.

A related issue is whether IPL needs innovation, a fresh coat of paint. Perhaps yes, for the sake of optics. Hopefully the changes respect what's working and keep IPL loyal to cricket. IPL doesn't need to do anything gimmicky. It's cool the way it is.