No new franchises, but more matches in next IPL: Chairman Arun Dhumal

Dhumal said that initially this season itself the plans were for 84 matches but were delayed due to a scheduling crunch around the tournament’s window and the broadcasters’ aversion to too many double-headers

HYDERABAD: There will be no franchises but the number of matches will go up from the current 74 to 94 matches, according to IPL chairman Arun Dhumal.

Dhumal informed ‘Cricinfo’ that initially this season itself the plans were for 84 matches but were delayed due to a scheduling crunch around the tournament’s window and the broadcasters’ aversion to too many double-headers.

The IPL’s window in the future tours programme (FTP) is locked in for the next two years, running from mid-March until the end of May. The BCCI will seriously consider an expansion to a full home-and-away, 94-match format for the next media-rights cycle, which will start in 2028,” he said.

“Definitely, that might be an opportunity. We’ve been discussing in ICC, we’ve been discussing in-house in the BCCI. Given how the interest of the fan is changing with regard to bilateral and ICC events, in regard to franchise cricket and T20 cricket, we’ll have to talk more seriously about it and see how we can create maximum value for the stakeholders of the game,” he explained.

“Given the window and the kind of commitments that we have with regards to bilateral cricket and ICC events, that may not be possible in the short term. But given the landscape, how it is changing and evolving over the years, maybe at some point in time we would look and take that option,” the IPL chairman said.

“There’s been so much cricket: we came back from Australia from a Test series, we had this Champions Trophy, and on top of that we have this IPL. That is why it was decided that it doesn’t make sense going from 74 to 84 [in 2025], but whenever we think that the time is opportune, we’ll take that call,” he said.