IPL Franchises oppose proposal of change in match timings

All the eight franchises of the Indian Premier League have opposed the proposal offered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to change the match timings for the 11th edition of the cash-rich tournament.

New Delhi: All the eight franchises of the Indian Premier League have opposed the proposal offered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to change the match timings for the 11^th edition of the cash-rich tournament.

Star Sports, IPL’s official broadcaster, had requested the BCCI for a change in the timings to suit prime-time viewership and it was accepted by IPL Governing Council during their last meet in Bengaluru.

The change would see the 8 PM game shifted to 7 PM and the 4 PM game postponed to 5.30 PM.

However, the owners of the IPL teams are not in favour of the proposal and would prefer sticking to traditional timings (4 PM and 8 PM).

“There will be no problem on days with just a single match but there will be a big one when there are doubleheaders. They won’t get the complete three-hour quota and instead will have to share it with two matches. The overlap will result in one-and-a-half hours of each IPL match losing out on viewers,” a franchise official told Indian Express.

With IPL 11 scheduled in 2 months time, the BCCI is now caught between the franchises and the broadcaster. But, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla is confident of addressing the issue as soon as possible.