IPL 2018: Rajeev Shukla says match timings issue will be resolved

What’s the story?

Amidst the buzz around the much-hyped IPL auction, the chairman of the IPL spoke about the proposed change in timings of the IPL games on the sidelines of the mega-auction in Bangalore. He stated, “The broadcaster (Star India) had request (to change timings) and the GC considered the request during its meeting. After that, we have received objections from a couple of franchises. We’ll discuss with the franchises and the broadcasters. We’ll arrive at a decision in an amicable way.”

The details

Shukla added that the Board of Control of Cricket of India (BCCI) is also looking to increase fees of other international boards who will allow their respective players to stay for the entire duration of the IPL. The 58-year old said, “We have made a provision whoever (whichever board) provides players for the entire duration, we will pay the board 20 percent. Earlier we were paying 10 percent.”

In case you didn’t know…

The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held between April 7th and May 27th. And the official broadcasters (Star India) had proposed a change in match timings. The evening games (which were held at 8 PM in the earlier years) is proposed to be held at 7 PM and the day games (the 4 PM starters) is proposed to be held at 5.30 PM.

“The broadcaster has requested a change in timings. By and large, the GC has accepted it. It gets too late in the night if the game starts at 8 pm. As far as the doubleheaders on weekends are concerned. The 4 pm game will now be played at 5.30 pm. There will be an overlap but the broadcaster says it has enough channels to show the games simultaneously,” the IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said after the Governing Council meeting earlier in the week.

Also, the BCCI first used to offer other boards 10% of the players’ fee. During the early years of the IPL, the franchises bore this cost, but later the Indian board started paying this fee.

What’s next?

The auctions are slated to take place on 27th January (today) and 28th January (tomorrow).

Author’s note

With the mega IPL auctions all set to take place today (27th January) and tomorrow (28th January), the teams will be focusing on the player auctions. But once the event is done, the teams (who are already not satisfied with the changed-timings) will be voicing their opinions on the timings of the games.