Two-and-a-half-month window for the IPL in ICC's FTP nearly confirmed: Reports 

A two-and-a-half-month window for the IPL every year has been all but confirmed in the ICC's latest Future Tours Programme (FTP) draft. The upcoming FTP will feature the schedule of international cricket that will be played by the 12 Full Member nations between May 2023 and April 2027.

An e-auction last month saw the IPL media rights being sold for a whopping ₹48,390 crore for the next five-year cycle. Following this, reports started doing the rounds that the BCCI is looking for an extended window for the T20 league.

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the near-final draft of the ICC's FTP has an all but formalized window for the IPL every year - from the last week of March to the first week of June. Hardly any international cricket has been scheduled during this period in the FTP, a clear indication of the growing influence of the T20 league.

In an interview with Cricbuzz earlier, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said about IPL’s expansion plans:

"We have been talking with our fellow Member Boards and the ICC about having a bigger dedicated window for the IPL. The IPL is a marquee event on the annual cricket calendar, and it is now only behind the NFL. The quality of cricket that you witness in IPL is world-class with senior international stars coming and playing with and against their Indian counterparts.”

Between 2014 and 2021, the IPL featured eight franchises and 60 games. For the 2022 season, two new teams were added and the total number of matches went up to 74. As per some reports, keeping an eye on further expansion of the T20 league, the maximum number of matches could be increased to 94 by 2027.

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Not just the IPL, windows granted for the Hundred and the BBL too

Apart from the IPL, the near-final draft of ICC’s latest FTP also grants home-season windows for the Hundred and the BBL, which are held in England and Australia, respectively. The draft FTP has a three-week window across July and August for every English summer. This will allow England's premier white-ball players to feature in The Hundred.

Australia have kept January clear of white-ball matches so that their big names can feature in the BBL. As per the draft FTP for the Aussies, other than in January 2024, when West Indies are scheduled for a white-ball tour, there will be no white-ball international cricket in the first months (of the coming years) of the upcoming FTP cycle.

There is one major difference between the window almost granted to the IPL and the Hundred and BBL. While international cricket will come to a near-halt during the Indian T20 league, England and Australia will have to reduce their volume of international matches to ensure their key players are available for their respective T20 leagues. In other words, international cricket won’t stop elsewhere even as England and Australia host The Hundred and the BBL.

Apart from windows for T20 leagues, the new FTP draft includes two cycles of the World Test Championship (WTC), ICC events and plenty of white ball cricket. The final draft is likely to be published by the ICC after its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on July 25 and 26 in Birmingham.

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