Sourav Ganguly makes predictions about IPL

IPL has changed the shape of cricket. This popular franchise league of India is able to compete with European football clubs in terms of financial transactions. Star cricketers from all over the cricket world are more interested in playing in IPL than their national teams. Even if IPL is called the number one expensive T20 league in the cricket world, cricket lovers will accept it in one sentence. Since its inception, its popularity is increasing and not decreasing. However, though the IPL would survive in the cricket world, the new franchises that are coming wouldn’t be able to survive, said the former president of the Indian Cricket Board, Sourav Ganguly.

After the launch of IPL, the cricket world has become familiar with many more franchise leagues. Among them are BPL, PSL, CPL, Caribbean Cricket League and many other franchises. But Sourav expressed doubts whether these franchise leagues will survive or not. In a recent interview, Sourav said, “The T20 league is the same across the world now. But I think all of them will not last.”

Sourav also said, “IPL has made a place for itself. There is enough craze for cricket in India. IPL is embraced by cricket lovers from all over the world. If I talk about Australia, it is also competitive. England has taken cricket to another level now. Their ‘The Hundreds’, SA Twenty is also popular in South Africa. Because of the popularity of cricket there, the leagues are also gaining popularity. But no other country has such a craze.”

According to Sourav, these leagues that suddenly caught fire will not be able to stand in the future if they do not maintain their infrastructure. Citing Zimbabwe as an example, he said, “It won’t be long before we see that very few leagues will survive. The rest will close. When we started playing, Zimbabwe was a dominant force in cricket. They fought against the big cricket teams. But Now people have also lost interest because the quality of their cricket has gone down completely. Infrastructure is very important in cricket. And I realized that while I was in CAB and BCCI. I think only the good ones can survive.”

Notably IPL first started in 2008. Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, India brought home the U-19 World Cup trophy that year. Interestingly, BCCI is going to launch women’s IPL this season. And this year India won the U-19 Women’s World Cup trophy. Like the men’s IPL, there created craze about women’s IPL. Now it is to be seen whether the girls’ IPL can survive with the same popularity as the boys’ IPL.