Will giving IPL franchises stake at The Hundred allow ECB to lure Indian cricketers?

The birth of Twenty20 cricket has changed the face of the sport forever, with the format being considered as cricket’s future. However, the game is being constantly worked upon to give itself a new look and identity.

While the Indian Premier League has set itself up as the wealthiest T20 league globally, England and Wales Cricket Board has developed a new plan for a fresh new tournament called The Hundred. Here, the matches would be limited to just 100 balls, while some rules have been minorly tweaked.

With the tournament slated to get underway this year, it has created a lot of hype already across the globe. However, ECB might have to do it for the inaugural season without the Indian players. They are not allowed to participate in overseas limited-overs contests and are exclusive to IPL.

However, ECB might have a plan in its sleeve, as it mulls to hand IPL franchises a stake in the tournament, which could allow and lure the Indian into the competition. The Telegraph reports that ECB could also give the Board of Control for Cricket in India an Asian television stake, based on the number of Indians participating, with ECB chairman Ian Watmore already hosting talks with BCCI.

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There are plans for the same in the Women’s Hundred, which would also be played this year. Further discussions are likely to be held when officials from both the boards meet again later this year.

However, Indian skipper Virat Kohli was watchful regarding The Hundred, claiming that these tournaments could cause serious burnouts for the players, considering the already crunch cricketing calendar. He also felt that the sport’s quality could be compromised due to a new format being introduced now and then.

“I’m already very… I wouldn’t say frustrated, but sometimes, it can get very demanding of you when you have to play so much cricket regularly. I feel somewhere the commercial aspect is taking over the real quality of cricket and that hurts me. I don’t want to be a testing sort of a cricketer for any new format. I don’t want to be someone who’s going to be part of that World XI who comes and launches the 100-ball format,” he had said during the 2018 England tour.

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