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IPL 2022
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 has been indefinitely postponed due to the ongoing pandemic. However, Aakash Chopra has a suggestion for IPL 2022. According to him, IPL 2022 should allow five overseas players in the playing eleven to uphold a standard of the competition.
The 15th edition of IPL will include 10 teams, adding two new franchises to the competition. This change will make IPL 2022 a 10 team competition for the first time since 2011. Since 2014, the league has been an eight-franchise competition. With the changing nature of the league, adding more overseas players to the teams might be the best call.
Aakash Chopra appeared on ‘MuteMe’, ESPNCricinfo’s show, and suggested this radical change
According to him, the league is popular in part due to its unpredictable nature and highly competitive matches. Increasing the number of overseas players from five to the previous four would ensure this quality.
During the eight-team competition, the number of international stars was capped at four. Each franchise could have seven Indian and four international players. However, this would no longer be effective in the expanded ten-franchise league. There could be a drop in the competitiveness and in turn, the popularity of the league noted Aakash Chopra.
The four foreign player cap along with the developing quality of Indian players has led to many renowned overseas Stars being benched in the past. This includes players like Mitchell Santner, Chris Lynn, Anrich Nortje, and Lockie Ferguson to name a few. Even Chris Gayle was benched from Punjab Kings at the beginning of IPL 2020. Thus if the overseas player cap is increased it might allow franchises to be stronger contenders.
Furthermore, as Indian players become stronger, many IPL teams have their foreign stars warming the bench. This possibility of being benched has caused many international players to forego the event in previous editions of IPL. If the franchises include five overseas players in the playing eleven then foreign players would be more likely to join.
The addition of a couple of franchises would also enable more Indian players to join the league. This would be in keeping with the motto of IPL which is to give chances to fresh domestic talent.