IPL 2022: Follow IPL 2022 live updates – Former Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri has proposed some radical plans for the international cricket boards to follow. According to him, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should organize two IPL seasons every year and bilateral series should be reduced, with international cricket being restricted to only the ICC tournaments.
“That’s the future (two IPL seasons every year). It could be tomorrow – 140 games, split 70-70. In two seasons. You never know. That’s the way it’s going to go. That’s the way it’s developed as a beast of a property. And you cannot hide away from that,” Shastri said, while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
IPL 2022: Ravi Shastri champions for TWO IPL seasons every year, asks cricket board to ‘STOP bilateral series’
On Sunday, the 74-game season of IPL 2022 ended with newcomers Gujarat Titans leaving nine teams behind to lift the title. Following the enthralling journey that lasted over two months, Shastri feels it is now time for cricket to follow the football model and prioritize franchise games instead of countries playing against each other.
Opening up on the redundancy of bilateral cricket using his personal experience, the 60-year-old said “There’s too much of bilateral stuff going on in T20 cricket. I’ve said that [before], even when I was the coach of India, I could see it happening in front of my eyes. It should go the football way, where, in T20 cricket, you just play the World Cup. Bilateral tournaments – no one remembers.”
He further explained his stance by saying fans tend to easily forget bilateral series. “I don’t remember a single game in the last six-seven years as coach of India, barring the World Cup. A team wins the World Cup, they will remember it. Unfortunately, we didn’t, so I don’t remember that either. Where I am coming from is: you play franchise cricket around the globe; each country is allowed to have their franchise cricket, which is their domestic cricket, and then, every two years, you come and play a World Cup,” Shastri opined.
IPL 2022: Ravi Shastri champions for TWO IPL seasons every year, asks cricket board to ‘STOP bilateral series’
Meanwhile, there are talks about the BCCI extending IPL to a three-month tournament, with every team playing 18 games in the league phase instead of 14. Though there haven’t been any official discussions on a two-season per year IPL model, it now will be interesting to see if BCCI considers Ravi Shastri’s proposal.
IPL 2022: Ravi Shastri champions for TWO IPL seasons every year, asks cricket board to ‘STOP bilateral series’
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