Former Australian cricketer Ian Chappell reckons that the introduction of IPL franchises in other leagues around the world is a sign of danger. Chappell feels that if this happens, the players will be more obligated towards their franchises rather than their international teams.
Recently, there has been news of IPL franchises having interest in the Hundred teams. It is also believed that GMR Group, which is the owner of the IPL team Delhi Capitals, is reportedly buying a stake in the Southern Brave team in the Hundred. This can potentially open up the doors for the other IPL teams to follow the same path.
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Ian Chappell issues big warning about IPL teams owning stakes in other T20 leagues
Many former cricketers have spoken on this serious matter. Ex-Australia batter Ian Chappell also joined the experts and claimed that the players will prefer to be available for their owners rather than their national teams if IPL franchises keep on buying teams in other T20 leagues around the world.
“The trend of successful companies having a greater say in the running of the game is increasing rapidly as IPL owners already own large stakes in T20 teams playing in the UAE, USA, South Africa, and the Caribbean. The shrewd owners are also starting to sign top-rated players to longer contracts and that should be a warning to cricket administrations,” Ian Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo.
“The better players could become beholden to an IPL owner rather than their own cricket board. That is when conflict of interest becomes a divisive issue,” he added.
Ian Chappell blames cricket administrators
Ian Chappell further put the blame on cricket administrators for lacking a blueprint for how the game will be run in the future and not predicting the repercussions. He believes that if the administrators had a particular plan, this issue could have been dealt a lot better.
“This isn’t a surprise as the game in most countries desperately needs money and the IPL owners are financially flush. Cricket administrators must accept the blame for not producing a long-term blueprint for the game a couple of decades ago,” Chappell wrote in the column.
“That way they could at least have had a viable plan for the game to deal with this issue. That is unless cricket administrators worldwide are convinced the future is purely the T20 game run by rich franchises,” he further added.
IPL franchises in various T20 leagues
In the world of cricket, IPL franchises have spread out to numerous top T20 leagues in the world. The franchises have bought the teams in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Major League Cricket (MLC), SA20 league, and in the UAE as well.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is already in negotiations with the IPL franchises over the percentage of stakes in the Hundred teams. Recently, the ECB presented a model according to which, 51% of the stake will be with the eight hosts of The Hundred. The hosts of the teams are the seven counties except London Spirit, which is associated with Marylebone Cricket Club.
Meanwhile, the IPL franchises want more stakes to run their particular teams. The franchises want a stake of 51% in their respective teams.