The Indian Premier League provides a platform for talent to meet opportunity. The most lucrative child of the BCCI has rightly earned the tag of 'the biggest T20 league in the world'. And for the last 11 years, it has produced several players who have gone on to become heroes for their nations.
No one could have imagined the best players from all around the world coming together and playing with and against each other. No one could have imagined cricketers who did not know each other eventually becoming great friends. No one could have imagined players from different countries knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses. All of this has been made possible by the IPL.
Cricketers, coaches, officials and commentators from across the globe yearn to join this league for a two-month window where international cricket does not take place.
The IPL has undoubtedly been tremendously successful. However, will IPL 2019 maintain the standards which the previous seasons have set?
Here, we look at three reasons why IPL 2019 may not be as successful as the previous IPL seasons.
# 1 The "caravan" format
There were a lot of deliberations and discussions that IPL 2019 would be held outside India owing to the General Elections in the country. But all of that finally came to an end when the IPL governing council and Supreme Court-elected COA announced that the league would be taking place in India.
That evoked a sigh of relief from the fans. However, they might still miss out on seeing their favorite players live, because this season will not be in the usual "home and away" format. Instead, it will follow a caravan format.
With the elections going on, only some grounds will be available for the matches, and only those grounds will be hosting matches. Consequently, some major grounds may miss out on hosting big matches.
That would rob the league of some of its electricity and passion.
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# 2 Limited roles of major international stars
Australia has a habit of resting its main players before a major series or tournament. It has done the same this time around too. With the World Cup being a priority, major players like Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins opted out of the IPL 2019 auction.
Along with Cricket Australia, the English and South African Boards have also asked their players to come back after 30th April. Effectively, half of the IPL will be without the major foreign stars.
Even Bangladesh Cricket Board has decided to hold back Mustafizur Rahman due to his injury concerns. Only New Zealand and West Indies have made their players available for the entire season.
In fact, BCCI might also think about resting some major Indian players like Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah given the workload they have had to deal with in the last few months.
The lack of major names from international cricket would take away some of the sheen of the tournament this year.
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# 3 ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is the main focus
The IPL has been held in World Cup years before, in 2011 and 2015. However, in both those years, it was held after the World Cup, and so it got its share of attention.
The story is different in 2019 as the IPL will be held before World Cup 2019. Consequently, it is the World Cup where the major attention would lie. That is justified as well because it is the biggest tournament in the cricketing calendar and comes only once in four years.
Although the IPL is highly successful, it is still a domestic T20 league. Though the 2019 season is just about a month away, it has not created the kind of buzz that the previous seasons did much before they actually started.
Teams and players are obviously working out their plans and strategies for the World Cup, and IPL 2019 is not the main focus.
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