Exclusive IPL window: Pakistan to have crucial say in BCCI proposal

Recently, Jay Shah, the Indian cricket board secretary, said that from 2024 the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) would have a clear two-and-a-half-month long window. Shah’s statement triggered an immediate and strong reaction from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which said it would give its opinion in a “forceful manner” when the issue officially comes up at the ICC platform, probably later this month.

More importantly, if the IPL exceeds seven weeks, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would be going against its own Supreme Court-approved constitution. Truth to tell, the BCCI has already breached its constitution. The 15th edition of the IPL, which ended on May 29, 2022, had exceeded the stipulation, and ran for 65 days after two teams were added to the existing eight. The 2021 tournament, staged in two parts in the UAE because of Covid pandemic, lasted 56 days, or eight weeks.

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So what is new in what Shah has said? Well, if the ICC and ICC member countries accept to provide a clear and fixed IPL window, a period in which no other bilateral cricket series is played, it would be something that has not happened in the 15-year history of the world’s richest T20 cricket tournament. The IPL has been played in different periods of the year in these 15 years. Barring the 2009 edition played in South Africa, the IPL has even adjusted its dates when India’s general elections coincided with it every five years.

Now, if the BCCI convinces the ICC and its other members, the ICC’s upcoming 2024-31 Future Tours Programme (FTP), the global schedule for teams, may have a clear IPL window, enabling availability of players from all countries.

IPL benefits all

“We are in discussions with the ICC and several other cricket boards to have an exclusive window for the IPL. Let me assure you that there will be a two-and-a-half-month window in the next ICC FTP calendar so that all top international players can participate,” Shah told Reuters in an interview recently. “Since this tournament benefits all…we have received a positive response from the ICC and other member boards,” he added.

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It is true that the IPL benefits all those who are associated with it. Besides the overseas players, the national boards of those countries are paid a handsome amount every year, for allowing their players to play in the lucrative competition. For example, the BCCI paid ₹21.77 crore to the various Boards for granting no-objection certificates to their players for IPL 2020. Also, the coaching and support staff, drawn from various countries, benefit from the IPL.

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When the IPL – and its global version, the Champions League T20 – was launched on September 13, 2007, in New Delhi, it received overwhelming support and backing of the ICC and all national boards. The presence of then ICC president, Ray Mali, and heads of Australia and Pakistan among others provided legitimacy to the tournament.

The BCCI is now taking the IPL to a new level. A clear slot on the ICC FTP would enable players from all countries to earn from the IPL without worrying about missing bilateral cricket, avoiding the ‘club vs country’ debate that is often raised.

But many issues/questions remain before the BCCI fulfils its desire. Two of the foremost are: Will Pakistan, whose bilateral cricket ties with India are on hold due to political relations, agree to a clean window for the IPL? Or, if Pakistan votes in BCCI’s favour with the condition that its players be allowed into the IPL, will the BCCI (or rather the Indian government) agree? Interestingly, Pakistan has its own proposal of a four-nation tournament on the ICC table.

PCB chairman Ramiz Raja has said that he would give his opinion on the IPL window when the issue comes up at the ICC. “So far there has been no announcement that they are extending the IPL window. I have my views on this, and I will talk about this issue at the ICC (annual) meeting in July,” Raja, a former Pakistan captain, said late last month. “I feel PCB is the only board that would challenge at every platform where Pakistan is being short changed. I can give you a guarantee on this. The moment this development (fixed IPL window) would be put across to us, we will give our opinion and will give it in a forceful manner.”

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Pakistan might oppose the BCCI at the ICC if no compromise is reached. But it could find itself isolated if the ICC and all other countries back a clear IPL window in one voice.

The only time Pakistani players competed in the IPL was in its opening edition in 2008. Before the 2009 tournament, the PCB withdrew all its players, saying it was unsafe for them to play after the Mumbai attack in November 2008.

Government guidance

The BCCI’s desire to have a permanent IPL window is closely linked with India-Pakistan bilateral cricket. And their bilateral cricket is presently on hold; they play only in the ICC tournaments and the Asia Cup. Their last bilateral series was played in 2012-13, when the Pakistani team visited India for a short series. Therefore, in this scenario, it looks difficult that the BCCI and the PCB would strike a conciliatory note vis-à-vis a special IPL window on the ICC FTP.

Both cricket boards would look to their governments for guidance, as has always been the case when it comes to playing each other. Here, one big advantage with India is that there won’t be any communication gap between the BCCI and the national government. Jay Shah is the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, so the government thinking/nod is expected to be conveyed to the BCCI smoothly. On the other hand, with former Pakistan captain Imran Khan now no longer the Prime Minister, it remains to be seen if Raja, who has been extremely close to his former captain, would have the same equation with Imran’s adversaries who are now in power.

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Importantly, the BCCI and Indian government will need to take into consideration that at the 50-over 2023 World Cup scheduled to be held in India, Pakistan will be one of the participating teams. Similarly, the ICC has allotted the 2025 Champions Trophy, the second most important 50-over tournament after the World Cup, to Pakistan, where India will have to participate.

No host of an ICC event can afford to deny any team from competing in its country, and the same goes for India. One may recall that after all the hullabaloo in India, MS Dhoni’s team, after all, played against Pakistan in a league match of the 2019 World Cup in England.

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At the same time, one won’t be entirely surprised if Pakistan supports India on the permanent IPL window and they agree after a ‘give-and-take’, backed by their governments. One sort of advantage in the scenario is that Raja and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, by all accounts, get along well. Not only have they played against each other in international matches, but they have also shared the commentators’ box before they became the heads of their Boards.

“I have spoken to Sourav Ganguly on the sidelines (of ICC meetings). I pointed out to him that if two cricketers – plus Martin Snedden of New Zealand – who are either heading their country’s boards or are on the board can’t make any difference what is the advantage (of having top cricketers part of the decision making). I keep pointing it out to him. Unfortunately, he has some other strategy,” Raja had said recently.

‘Political game’

Raja also revealed that due to prevailing conditions he had to decline Ganguly’s invitation to attend IPL matches. “Twice he invited me to attend the IPL, officially, once when it was held in Dubai and now in 2022. I was split (in thinking), guessing that if I went fans would take me to task, though accepting the invitation perhaps made cricketing sense. At this moment, there are cracks (in relations between the two boards/countries). It will require time filling it because it is a political game. If it were a cricketing game, it would have been sorted out in two minutes,” he said. And he significantly reminded: “See, we got the hosting rights of the 2025 Champions Trophy. So, in a way, we have breached the influence (of the BCCI at the ICC), and people have recognised that the Pakistani cricket team and fans deserve to watch a world-class of this standard (in Pakistan).”

The BCCI’s bid for a special IPL window is audacious in the sense that its constitution allows only seven weeks for the tournament. “IPL refers to the Indian Premier League which is the franchise-based Twenty/20 tournament conducted by the BCCI for a maximum period of seven weeks,” reads the new BCCI constitution.

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It is most likely that Shah revealed the BCCI’s proposal for a clean IPL window after getting solid assurance from other ICC member countries. The BCCI, perhaps, went ahead with that plan because its application for constitution amendments is yet to be taken up by the Supreme Court. That application was filed in April 2020, after the present BCCI set-up took charge in October 2019. In the interim, the tenure of the BCCI office-bearers has expired as per the new constitution, but they are continuing, saying they are awaiting a word from the Supreme Court.

We will get to know later this month whether the BCCI has succeeded in its bid to have an independent, clear IPL window from 2024. The ICC annual conference is scheduled in England at the end of this month, which Ganguly and Shah would attend. All said and done, IPL – read BCCI – is going to dictate terms going forward, an extended permanent window or not. After all, money rules – and the BCCI has a lot of it.

(The writer is a journalist based in Delhi and has covered cricket for three decades. He tweets at @AlwaysCricket)