Reports | Saudi Arabia approaches IPL owners to set up world’s richest T20 league
According to a report by The Age, Saudi Arabia is looking to establish a high-paying T20 tournament backed by the BCCI and Indian Premier League franchise owners. The report mentions that Saudi Arabian government representatives have been in talks with the IPL teams for 12 months.
Cricket has seen the emergence of various T20 leagues and one more tournament is to arrive on the international cricket landscape. According to a report by The Age, Saudi Arabia is aiming to establish the world’s richest T20 league backed by IPL owners and the BCCI. The government representatives have been discussing the idea with the franchise owners for 12 months and the conglomeration of the two parties can result in a high paying competition.
The Indian players are currently banned from competing in overseas T20 tournaments. However, contrary to that, the report mentioned that they would be allowed to participate in the league. ICC chairman Greg Barclay is of the opinion that cricket could work quite well for Saudi Arabia.Â
“If you look at other sports they’ve been involved in, cricket is something I imagine would be attractive to them,” he told the publication.
“Given their advance into the sport more generally, cricket would work quite well for Saudi Arabia. They’re pretty keen to invest in sport, and given their regional presence, cricket would seem a pretty obvious one to pursue.”
The newly formed cricket league would have to be sanctioned by the ICC and approved by ICC members for its commitment. Further, even if the league starts, the organisers will have a tough task ahead of them to convince the national board to provide their players with a No Objection Certificate for players to participate.Â
Trent Boult and Martin Guptill were the recent examples who preferred franchise cricket over international and so were released from their national contracts. The arrival of this league and other leagues in the future can increase such cases which is a stark possibility.Â