There is talk that the 2021 IPL will feature nine teams instead of eight and will reach 10 teams by 2023, which has always been BCCI’s long-term plan.
The views of Dravid, who is now the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), were echoed by the co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals. Manoj Badale, who called a nine-team IPL in 2021 “definitely possible.”
“I feel like IPL is ready for expansion in terms of talent, if you look at it from a talent perspective. There are a lot of talented players who don’t have the opportunity to play.”
Dravid said that if there are more teams, all the talented players could be integrated and there will be no drop in quality.
“So I think we are ready as there are a lot of new names and faces in terms of talent perspective,” Dravid said during the virtual launch of Badale’s book ‘A New Innings’, which he co-authored with the former English cricketer. Simon Hughes. .
Badale, as a stakeholder in the IPL, welcomed the idea of expansion and also spoke about several aspects that need to be considered.
“BCCI needs to make a decision and will take a call on what the exact approach would be.
“It is definitely possible to do a nine-team league in 2021, but as a consequence, you will have to have more matches in the afternoon and maintain the quality of the competition,” said Badale, a British citizen of Indian origin.
Dravid, for his part, explained why Mumbai Indians They have been such a prolific team having won an unprecedented five IPL titles in 13 editions.
“They (MI) have a strong core with a high quality. Their core is built with world-class T20 players and they balance it with young and exciting talent. They have a very strong scouting structure,” said Dravid.
He said that it is thanks to IPL that someone like Rahul Tewatia from Haryana has been able to show his skills to a global audience.
“Before, you only relied on your state association to select it for the Ranji Trophy. Now, in a state like Haryana that produces so many quality spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal, Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav, Tewatia would have had limited opportunities.
“So it’s no longer limited to state associations,” Dravid said.
He spoke about the heady feeling of playing international cricket without actually playing one, that the IPL provides.
“As coaches we can help young players on their journeys, but what helps them grow is experience. Look at Devdutt Padikkal who is hitting alongside virat Kohli or you can learn from AB de Villiers. ”
Another area in which the IPL has helped young players is the availability of valuable data to improve their game.
“Look at someone like T Natarajan. It was because of the quality of the data that he was able to go back and work on his yorker and that skill has now led him to the Indian team,” he said.
The last decade (2011-2020), according to Dravid, has been India’s best in terms of white ball cricket and the IPL has contributed its appropriate motto “talent meets opportunity”.
“It has been India’s best performing decade in white ball cricket. We won a World Cup (2011), the Champions Trophy (2013) and made it to the semi-finals and finals of World T20. Young players have learned a lot by watching. and listening to TV experts, “he said.
.
