Northeast may get to witness their first cricket team in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Devajit Lon Saikia, secretary of Assam Cricket Board (ACB) has said in a statement that the Assam state cricket board is planning to introduce a cricket franchise from Guwahati.
The Assam Cricket Board also stated that they will be approaching BCCI for the Guwahati-based team in the upcoming IPL season. The proposal will be discussed in the forthcoming AGM meeting with the BCCI, where the discussion of the entrance of 1 or 2 teams is going to hold. But one thing is almost certain is, the entry of the 11th team in the IPL, of Ahmedabad.
According to a report, a senior BCCI official said, “Team is not granted to any state associations. BCCI AGM may approve the inclusion of 1 or 2 teams for the next edition. Ahmedabad will be one of the city, other cities like Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur can also be included in the list. Inclusion of Guwahati in the list of potential cities at this stage is unlikely’.
Another BCCI official mentioned that “time is too short for introduction of the new teams for IPL in 2021. Tendering, players auction and most importantly getting all the stakeholders on the same page will be really challenging in short-time span. We are of the view, any addition to the team should only happen for IPL 2022″
“Our broadcast rights deal with Star will end by IPL 2021. After the end of the cycle, we should introduce new teams so that the broadcast rights and other commercial partnership values can be increased. The final decision now will be taken in AGM only and according to me the plan to increase teams will be shelved this year’, said another old functionary of BCCI.
Another BCCI official mentioned, “Ten teams will mean 94 matches in the home and away format. That implies a bigger window for the tournament, which may be tough given the current situation”.
The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) was formed 72 years ago in 1948 and later, in 1960, it was affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). During the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy season, Assam had topped the plate group of Ranji Trophy and subsequently progressed to the Super League but unfortunately, in the season 2010-11, they ended up at the bottom of the super league.
The Assam Cricket Association has laid the foundation stone of a clubhouse called 91 Yards Club during a function and has also started a training program called ‘Pay and Play Scheme’ of the State Cricket Academy.
