IPL 2021 WILL HAVE 10 TEAMS DIVIDED INTO 2 GROUPS: NEW CHANGES IN IPL TO TAKE PLACE - REPORT 

A month after IPL 2020 ended, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to start preparation for the coming season. The big news is that BCCI is planning to approve the addition of two new teams in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. 

According to the CrickTracker report, the approval of the two new teams will reportedly be given in the Annual General Meeting of the board scheduled to take place on December 24. 

Talking about the 10 teams in IPL, 2021 will not be the first year where the tournament will hold a 10-team season. Earlier in 2011, 10 teams had featured in the season while in the next two editions, nine teams had taken part.

With BCCI likely to approve two new teams, the IPL 2021 is all set to have 10 teams. Also, it was reported that only one team will be added ahead of the next season while the 10th franchise will be added the following season, CrickTracker further reported.  

Initially when talks were taking place to introduce two new teams, the franchises were not happy with this as two mega auctions would’ve taken place in that case. But now reports seem to suggest that the addition of two new teams will now bring a spate of changes to the next IPL season.

According to one of the BCCI officials who InsideSport spoke to said; ‘time is too short for introduction of the new teams for IPL in 2021. Tendering, players auction and most importantly getting all the stakeholders on the same page will be really challenging in short-time span. We are of the view, any addition to the team should only happen for IPL 2022."

Meanwhile another BCCI functionary also commented on the same about the new IPL teams before 2022.

According to this official, he said: “Our broadcast rights deal with Star will end by IPL 2021. After the end of the cycle we should introduce new teams so that the broadcast rights and other commercial partnership values can be increased. Final decision now will be taken in AGM only and according to me the plan to increase teams will be shelved this year."

“Ten teams will mean 94 matches in the home and away format. That implies a bigger window for the tournament, which may be tough given the current situation”, said another BCCI official added.