IPL 2017 might be played outside India, claims BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur

The BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had revealed today that the members of the Indian Premier League governing council will deliberate over whether the 2017 edition of the tournament can be held abroad.

"The IPL governing council will be looking at the venues in India and abroad. We have to check the availability of the venues and prevailing conditions," Thakur told a select gathering of journalists during an interaction at the BCCI's Delhi headquarters today.

The IPL has been held abroad twice till date due to the assembly level elections that were happening at the same time. In 2009, the entire IPL was shifted to South Africa while in 2014, it was shifted to the UAE for the first 15 days.

The IPL has run into a series of PILs and controversies with the latest resulting in 12 matches including the all-important final being shifted out of Maharashtra following the Court verdict. The BCCI officials had expressed their discomfort with the decision earlier.

BCCI treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary had tweeted four days back: "Very soon IPL may be played outside the country, if this goes on. Loss to the GDP would not be insignificant."

Thakur also said that he had asked the state units to check the water-harvesting structure. The BCCI secretary also said that should the Lodha committee recommendations on the curtailment of advertisements be implemented, it will have a strong impact on the revenue structure.

"We will have to rethink about the gratis (pension) that is paid to ex-players (former Test and first-class cricketers)," Thakur said.

The Lodha Committee recommendations might significantly lower the value of broadcast rights post-2017. That in turn, will lead to a pay cut for the franchises and the players who get 26 percent of the BCCI's annual income in salaries.

The Indian players following such a pay cut and drop in revenue might be compelled to participate in other franchise-based leagues around the world like the BBL, the BPL and the CPL. The BCCI has been reluctant to let the Indian players participate in such leagues outside India so far.

In another move, the BCCI are also considering opening an academy for the commentators where people aspiring to have a career in cricket commentary can hone their skills.

"We are planning to have a commentators' academy where interested youngsters who want to take up the profession will be able to hone their skills. And it will cater to various regional languages. We have seen how Virender Sehwag's commentary has struck a chord with the cricket lovers during the recently-concluded World T20," said Thakur.