ECB ready to offer IPL franchises stakes in The Hundred teams to lure Indian cricketers
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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) could offer Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises a stake in The Hundred teams and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a share of Asian television rights in a bid to lure India's marquee players such as Virat Kohli into the new 100-ball format tournament.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) could offer Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises a stake in The Hundred teams and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a share of Asian television rights in a bid to lure India's marquee players such as Virat Kohli into the new 100-ball format tournament.
The Hundred is an upcoming cricket tournament set to be played in a new 100-ball format. The inaugural edition of the tournament is scheduled to begin on July 21 after suffering a postponement in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Telegraph, the ECB is ready to give BCCI a stake in the Asian television right based on how many Indian players participate in the tournament while also providing IPL franchises with a stake in the teams. Reportedly, BCCI and ECB had held talks when ECB chairman Ian Watmore and chief executive Tom Harrison were in Ahmedabad for the pink-ball Test in February.
Even then Indian players could be made part of the Women's Hundred edition making the road clear for the men players to participate in the season after that. The stakeholders and officials would meet against when India visit England later in the year.
Earlier in 2018, Indian captain Virat Kohli had talked about the hectic cricket schedule and how the commercial aspect of the game is taking over the quality of cricket. He had said that he doesn't want to be a testing sort of cricketer for any newly introduced format.
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“I’m already very… I wouldn’t say frustrated but sometimes it can get very demanding of you when you have to play so much cricket regularly. I feel somewhere the commercial aspect is taking over the real quality of cricket and that hurts me. I don’t want to be a testing sort of a cricketer for any new format. I don’t want to be someone who’s going to be part of that World XI who comes and launches the 100-ball format,” Virat stated during India’s tour of England in 2018.