The Indian Premier League will never kill Test cricket but it is well on the way to becoming the sport’s main global focal point.
All international cricket, for that matter, is in danger of eventually becoming the support act to the IPL as its popularity, finances and footprint continues to grow quicker than a Jofra Archer thunderbolt.
The IPL is embarking on a rapid rate of expansion on the back of its recent broadcast rights mega deal.
And the competition will only keep getting bigger.
Within a decade or two, the IPL could double in size and take up nearly half the calendar, leaving international associations a smaller and smaller window.
It’s on track to become cricket’s version of the NBA where the sport’s elite players get paid eight-figure salaries and are showcased around the globe.
The other versions of the sport becomes second-rate – like basketball’s other foreign leagues – or quaint nods to international traditions, like the World Cup and bilateral series.
Jasprit Bumrah celebrates a wicket for the Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Domestic leagues continue to spring up in the traditional and emerging cricket nations – the oil-rich United Arab Emirates is bringing in its own T20 competition early next year with Major League Cricket in the United States kicking off a few months later.
The Big Bash League is already sliding down the global pecking order due to problems with scheduling and a lack of star power. Channel Seven is clearly unhappy with the inferior product being dished up with the network trying to cancel its broadcast deal with Cricket Australia.
All the other nations are competing to be the third best behind the IPL, with daylight second.
There are already not enough months in the year for the ICC to cram in the international tournaments and tours.
Something’s got to give and it won’t be the IPL.
Even if the IPL window “only” becomes a three or four-month permanent fixture on the calendar, star players will more and more scale back their international availability the rest of the year to ensure they’re fit and ready for their main money earner. And who could blame them?
The IPL’s previous broadcast deal was a five-year agreement for $2.6 billion to Star TV, owned at the time by Rupert Murdoch but since sold to Disney.
This time around it was $5.6 billion with Disney Star paying $3b for the broadcast rights in the Indian subcontinent and Viacom 18 splurging $2.6b for the digital rights for 2023-27.
According to Forbes, the IPL is now the second-richest sports league on the planet behind only the NFL, in terms of media rights dollars per match.
Babar Azam & Pat Cummins (Photo: Cricket Australia)
The NFL is estimated at $36 million per game, followed by the IPL at $13.8m, the English Premier League at $11m, Major League Baseball at $9.57m and the NBA at $2.12m.
The competition is expanding from 74 matches to 94 by the 2027 season, stretching beyond its annual two-month window.
With the licences for the two most recent franchises – Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, being sold for $745m and $945m, the BCCI intends to add two more teams in the next broadcast cycle, adding even more funds to its bulging coffers.
One factor in the favour of traditionalists who hope to see Test cricket combat the latest threat to its longevity is Sourav Ganguly being the president of the BCCI.
He wants to keep this format the pinnacle of cricket. Well, he tweeted it so it must be true, right? No one misrepresents their true feelings on social media.
Ganguly does indeed love Test cricket. It’s fair to say he was the first Indian captain who treated the five-day format as seriously as his main counterparts in Australia, England and South Africa.
When he took over the captaincy in the late 1990s, he instilled steel in the Indian side, bringing an abrasive Western leadership style to the role.
Famously, he deliberately kept an increasingly annoyed Steve Waugh waiting for him at the toss in 2001 when India upset the Australians in one of the greatest series of all time.
Test cricket can’t compete financially when stacked up against the T20 format, particularly the IPL, but it can’t be left to wither on the vine.
(Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)
ICC CEO Greg Barclay attracted plenty of criticism for his recent comments about the future of Test cricket but the New Zealander was being a realist rather than an alarmist.
“There is a men’s and women’s event every year and the growth of domestic leagues are forcing things from the bottom and … what is getting squeezed is bilateral cricket and so we are trying to fit everything in,” he told the BBC’s Test Match Special.
“There will be some unfortunate consequences from a playing experience and a revenue point of view for some of those countries who won’t get the amount of cricket they might hope to have and they won’t get exposure, particularly against India and to a lesser extent Australia and England. So we will see a squeeze.
“In 10-15 years time I still see Test cricket being an integral part (of the game), it may be that there is less of it.”
His comments reflect an ICC view that for the big three nations – India, Australia and England – that Test cricket should continue pretty much unaffected as the T20 revolution takes over.
(Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)
But for the other established nations like Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies, and women’s cricket, they will inevitably be directed by the ICC towards the white-ball arena, particularly the shortest international format.
Because that’s where the money can be found.
Ultimately, it’s the fans who are dictating the future and the administrators are following their trail.
In the time-poor, short attention span digital age, a sporting contest which runs over five days and still can end in a draw is an anachronism.
Yes, a draw can be a much more thrilling spectacle than a match that ends in a clear winner but that’s the purist’s view and like a forward defensive shot, the SS Jumbo and Sheffield Shield followers, our numbers are not as plentiful these days.
Sporting administrators know they have the rusted-on fan’s attention no matter the format, they want new customers to grow their reach.
By the 2030s, it’s conceivable that the cricket calendar will be filled with an IPL season of 5-6 months with the rest of the Future Tours Programme major events like the T20 and ODI World Cups, the Ashes series and Tests involving India getting marquee windows.
All other T20 leagues which survive and the rest of international cricket in the three formats will slot in around those headline acts.
Cricket will end up more like basketball and football, where the rich leagues get all the exposure and only the significant international match-ups will be given prominence.
The commercial realities will dictate the future but Test matches need to survive for cricket to thrive in the future and retain its soul.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
If this is the way it all goes I'll completely lose interest. Couldn't care less about the IPL or any other franchise team. I like International cricket, that's it. I'll watch any cricket Australia play, even the odd T20I, but preferably more tests and ODI's but I'm not going to tune into mindless soulless franchises. The BBL goes on for way too long as it is.
Lord Ted Said
Roar Rookie
Yep. Greg Chappell was my gold standard Aussie batsman and when I scored a fifty my old man went and kept his promise. I rolled and sandpaper and oiled that thing like a mofo and I could still use it I reckon. Currently it sits under the bed in readiness for the burglar that would get a sweetly timed square cut, with plenty of bottom hand, to the melon. It would look good cause those bats looked awesome with square of the wicket shots. The double scoops were trying too hard and I suspect the players forced to use them knew it too. I moved on to a Kooka bubble and it was a lovely piece of willow. Broken by Joe Hockey in a charity game. The fat prick knocked the splice out out extracting a “yorker” I didn’t give it the preservation regime the scoop got in my formative years.
Yet crowds going to it are dwindling, and eyes watching it on TV are also dwindling. As per my 'fake news' comment earlie, at some stage this will come home to roost. Media companies are not going to continue to pay for T20 cricket that no one goes to and no one watches. That T20 is 'popular' is one of the biggest scams in modern sport.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
I still wish that was true. However, the IPL in particular is wildly popular in its prime market of India. Interest outside of India has essentially dropped to nothing, but like the AFL the domestic market is more than big enough. Boards in the smaller nations simply do not have the funds to pay their players enough to even be considered a supplement to any IPL money. In some cases poor management (outright corruption in Zimbabwe) adds to that, but there is a limit to how much can be made from small populations often in weaker economies. And the big three are determined to keep it that way, the nations that don't need ICC funding get the vast bulk of it. West Indies are particularly vulnerable as their home season is basically through the IPL period. The best players won't play play domestic cricket, and seeing players prefer IPL to internationals is only likely to increase as the franchise circus provides more money and the national boards are able to provide even less. Plus, of course, the reluctance of the big three - especially Australia - to actually play the financially smaller nations. Will the IPL kill Tests? Probably not, in the short term at least. Is T20 going to result in less Test nations because it has not been handled properly? Very probably. Zimbabwe, West Indies, Ireland, even New Zealand and Sri Lanka are all at risk over the next 15-20 years.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Define cricket fraternity …Does that include the players too ?
Simoc
Guest
This could have been written 5 years ago. A top cricket player wants to play for his country but is treated as an idiot by his own country's board. He still wants to play but when he gets to 25 years (and long before) realises that fame and fortune are with the T20. So they have a choice. Make money or feel like an idiot.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Well the Grey Nic had one or two scoops..
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Hi JN. India hasn’t ‘dominated Test cricket for ever.’ BCCI only got up once when the economy started going off.
Maximus Insight
Guest
Yeah, but nah, sorry. You don't get to define who loves test cricket or not. Also, I am not sure how demonstrating self awareness of makes me a "contributor to the game withering away" I am at a time in my life where the demands on my time make it harder to sit and watch great swathes of a test match. During an ashes or a competitive home series (generally only really India nowadays) I'll watch a reasonable amount still. I'm not going to sit and watch out of obligation when I actually have a lot of genuine obligations.
Nick
Roar Guru
He's not wrong, Zozza. Look at the crowds...people were not attending the tests long before BBL. People don't care unless it's England.
Nick
Roar Guru
Hard to believe but the IPL has been with us for 17 years now It is hard to believe when it's been with us for 14 years. :silly: The big 3 have essentially dominated Test Cricket for ever . Flatly untrue. India have only gotten into test cricket in the past 15-20 or so years. They barely played any test cricket in the 90's. It's why Sachin Tendulkar was breaking all ODI records available. Crowd attendances and overall interest in Test Cricket in England , Aus , India , covid excluding remains strong . Demonstrably false statement in India. Test cricket crowds are terrible. The occasional good day of crowds, otherwise vastly empty. Test crowds are only good against England in Australia. Test crowds are strong in England, yes.
Nick
Roar Guru
So then you don't love test cricket. You are a contributor to the game withering away with this "except England" stuff.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
The more things change , the more they stay the same . Hard to believe but the IPL has been with us for 17 years now . I Predictions of Test Crickets demise has accompanied it every step of the way . The big 3 have essentially dominated Test Cricket for ever . Occasional cameo performances from Pakistan , South Africa , NZ , Sri Lanka and The Windies have shaken things up but it’s never lasting . Crowd attendances and overall interest in Test Cricket in England , Aus , India , covid excluding remains strong . Crowd attendance in the supporting casts group only good when playing the big 3 . You cannot give tickets away to a Test match between South Africa and Bangladesh in Johannesburg . So to the Test Cricket Doomscrollers ( yes it’s a real word I discovered the other day and it’s in the Oxford Dictionary) . I don’t really share the views that Test Crickets days are limited . Seems to be just fine to me .
Maximus Insight
Guest
Yes, the point is you can charge a lot more when capacity is far more constrained It is literally economics 101
Maximus Insight
Guest
An advertising blitz screaming "grow a brain, fools, and lock your eyes on this one-sided test against Sri Lanka for the next 5 days" probably wouldn't be that effective I love test cricket but I am far less engaged if we are walking over any opposition except England.
Maximus Insight
Guest
What??? The BBL is a massive cash cow for Cricket Australia. It is what drove the big step change in TV rights value.
No one I know in the cricket fraternity watches or cares about IPL or T20. It's the biggest "fake. news" in the history of sport, let alone cricket, that T20 is popular. One day media companies will learn the hard way when they go broke because they thought parting out multi millions for a T20 was a wise financial choice.
Absolutely shockingly bad article. You need to put your typewriter away and find a new job. This is in particular "Ultimately, it’s the fans who are dictating the future and the administrators are following their trail". If you believe it is the fans and not the corporates whom are dictating that T20 should rule, then you really do need to have many medical tests to test out your brain function. One of the most ridiculous articles on cricket I have read in a long time.
Simon
Guest
The worst part about this is the IPL is just not that good. I've tried to get into it a few times but there's just not that buildup and release of pressure that I watch cricket for. T20 has it's place but every time I watch it I just miss the subtleties that long form cricket has
Micko
Roar Rookie
Lords is the "local" test venue for around 15-25 million people though, so the limited seating and exorbitant prices is a big winner for the MCC & ECB