Clash of T20 Leagues: Indian T20 League is set to clash with New T20 League?
Virat Kohli-MS Dhoni-Rohit Sharma (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)
The inception of the Indian T20 League gradually brought to the front the huge market of franchise cricket. As the cash-rich league aged, it showed the way for other nations to explore the franchise-based cricketing action. Gradually T20 leagues started to spawn up across the globe.
The newest addition to an already existing array of T20 leagues is the UAE T20 League. Notably, this league has been named the International T20 League or the ILT20. This tournament is an addition to the already jam-packed T20 league calendar for the new year. Top T20 leagues across the world like the Big Bash League (BBL), Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Cricket South Africa (CSA) T20 League, and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will now clash with each other for player availability and window in the cricketing calendar.
The ILT20 is expected to be scheduled between January 6 and February 12. The window is already packed with the BBL and BPL scheduled to take place at the same time. The newly drafted CSA T20 League will also be taking up the same time slot. An extension into the month of February might see a clash with the Pakistan Super League.
No official schedule has yet been officially announced for the BBL, but it was held from December to January last year. The BPL is also scheduled in the month of January and February, and the PSL also took place in February in its last season. The South African league has also been scheduled for January.
The ownership ties of the International T20 League with the Indian Premier League will attract a fair number of players. Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, the owners of Mumbai, GMR Group, co-owner of Delhi, the owners of Kolkata in ITL and Trinbago in CPL, the Glazers family, owners of Manchester United Football Club have all bought teams in the ILT20 and might we’ll bring in recruitments from their original team in the Indian T20 League.
In addition to this the most successful sides of the Indian T20 League, Mumbai and Chennai have expressed their wish to buy teams in the CSA T20 League. As per reports, a Kevin Pietersen-led consortium is also interested in buying a team in the tournament.
The players will have to pick and choose among the multiple leagues available for them. The numerous tournaments will also provide a lot of scopes for the local talents to display their talents on the big stage.
“It is vitally important, that through this tournament UAE-based players continue to flourish which is one of the objectives of this League,”- said Khalid Al Zarooni, the chairman of the ILT20.
