The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has approved a 10-team Indian T20 League from the 2022 edition at its 89th Annual General Meeting in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The inclusion of two new teams in 2022 means that the Indian T20 League 2021 will be played with the regular eigth teams and tenders will be floated for the addition of two new teams from the 2022 season. The board decided to set a regulation of one franchise per state, meaning that the likes of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and the union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh won't be able to field any more teams.
In another massive development, the apex body of Indian cricket has also decided to back ICC’s bid for the inclusion of cricket in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States.
Speaking to the media, a board member who attended the meeting said that while the BCCI is open to the idea, they will take a call on the same only after discussing it further with the Indian Olympic Association on how the revenue will be shared and other commercial factors.
"Primarily it sounds a very good idea and the board is open to further discussions before a call is taken on the same. Will have to sit down with the IOA and take it forward from there as there are certain modalities that need to be discussed,” the member said.
The BCCI has also decided that the first-class players, both men and women, will be suitably remunerated for the season which has been heavily affected due to the pandemic.
"Yes, domestic players will be compensated and the remuneration package will be worked out looking at who gets what. But there is no doubt that players will not suffer due to the effect the pandemic has had and that is confirmed," the member added.
The apex body of Indian cricket also plans to get the domestic season underway with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 championship in January.
The BCCI board member has further stated that a call has been made to form a marketing committee that will look into the recent cases of conflict of interest and avoid such controversies in the near future.
"It was discussed that with an eye on the conflict of interest clause, a marketing committee will be formed to look into every deal that is signed so that there is no chance of any conflict," the BCCI official said.
In the BCCI AGM meeting, senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla officially took over as the Board’s vice president in place of his protege Mahim Verma from Uttarakhand.
In other decisions, the general body decided in favour of Sourav Ganguly continuing as a director in the ICC Board.
Secretary Jay Shah will be the alternate director as well as India’s representative at the Chief Executive Committee meets of ICC.
Meanwhile, BCCI has named former pacer Chetan Sharma as the chairman of the national men's selection committee panel.
Sharma alongside Abey Kuruvilla and Debashish Mohanty will be part of the selection panel. The trio will replace Sarandeep Singh, Jatin Paranjape, and Devang Gandhi, whose tenures ended in September this year.
The three new members will join former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi and pace bowler Harvinder Singh who were picked as selectors in March, the BCCI said in a statement.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Arun Sankar
