The mini-IPL, scheduled to take place in the United States later this year, has hit a roadblock as BCCI President Anurag Thakur has raised certain concerns. The time difference between the the US and India remains a major hurdle.
The India cricket team, just a few days back, plied their trade in two competitive T20 matches in Florida against the West Indies. While the Caribbean nation won the first match, the second match had to be abandoned due to a wet outfield.
ICC (International Cricket Council) has mentioned that they would be looking into the incident at the 2nd T20I in Lauderhill, during their annual workshop for match officials later this year. The match started off after a delay of 40 minutes, with technical reasons cited. Thereafter, rain stopped play at the start of the second innings.
Had the match started on time, the minimum five overs required in the second innings would have been bowled and a result would have been possible. However, the outfield conditions also could have been better, because the rain went away pretty quickly.
The matches were telecast in India at 7:30 p.m., with the local time at Florida being 10 a.m. While playing matches in the morning on a weekend makes sense, for the mini-IPL to succeed, crowds need to be brought in during the weekdays as well, difficult if the matches are to be played in the morning.
"I think we must understand the time difference," Thakur told ESPNCricinfo, while talking about the mini IPL tournament. "IPL is seen in India from 7 o'clock to 11 or 11.30 at night. So you have to play somewhere in the east coast here (USA) so (that) the timing matches.
"If we have to play in the day here, the matches should be seen in India at night because broadcasting is a big thing. So you can't make your home fan lose (by) playing outside India. So which are the provinces you can play in United States? That's a big task."
Apart from the US, the BCCI had shortlisted UAE (United Arab Emirates) as another possible venue to hold the mini IPL, originally thought about to be held this month.
"IPL, we are not even thinking of hosting it outside India. It has to be hosted in India, but there are many other options what you can do which we'll let you know over a period of time when we come out with a long-term plan for this market," Thakur added.
Between the two venues proposed to hold the tournament, UAE seems to be the better option as Indian viewers will be able to watch the matches more conveniently because of the lesser time difference.
The blue print of the tournament is yet to be chalked out. There are a number of issues that BCCI will have to discuss elaborately with the franchises -- finances, operations, player availability and player fees, to just name a few.
The availability of players will be also be an issue. There are hundreds of players who feature in the IPL and all of them may not be available for the mini IPL in September. Logistics will also turn out to be a major problem.
