New Delhi , December 10 : Will the Indian fans witness another T20 league after the Indian Premier League (IPL) . The idea was floated by BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur who is mulling over the idea of another T20 league. Overwhelming response to the bidding for two new IPL teams for the next two seasons to replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals , who are serving a two-year suspension for betting activities by their officials.The new league is likely to occupy the window left vacant by the Champions League T20 that has been scrapped.
Apart from New Rising and Intex, a number of companies, including RPG Enterprises, Videocon, Yes Bank, Cycle Pure Agarbathies and Chennai-based cement firm Chettinad group bought tender forms to buy one of the two teams.
BCCI secretary however, turned down the idea of a 10-team IPL .
“If we have 10 teams, we will not be able to fit them in the IPL window and that would also mean more 4 p.m. games that do not bring in the kind of TRP the evening games do and the quality of the game too suffers,” he said.
The BCCI Secretary also threw his weight behind the ODI format, saying it remains one of the most popular formats among the fans.
“Look at the kind of sponsorship we are getting. This year, there was a 15 to 17 per cent increase in sponsorship revenues for BCCI,” he said. “This clearly shows that the steps we have taken in the last nine months are bringing back confidence among viewers as well as advertisers and sponsors.”
He, however, admitted that popularising Test cricket remains a challenge.
“The challenge lies in Test cricket. That is where we need to work hard to bring back viewership,” he said. For that, they are now reaching out to children to nurture them as the new audience for Test cricket. In the Delhi Test recently, 40,000 kids watched the game through the five days,” he said.