Arun Dhumal on a 94-match IPL calendar in 2028 as he shuts the door on any further expansion of the league.
Arun Dhumal says BCCI will seriously consider a full home-and-away format from the next media-rights cycle.
After the Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchises were sold, the league’s size was increased to its current 74-match format in 2022. Due to scheduling constraints within the tournament window and the broadcasters’ reluctance to host too many doubleheaders, the original plans to expand to 84 matches for 2025 were postponed; nevertheless, medium-term expansion is still possible.
For the next two years, the IPL’s window in the Future Tours Program (FTP) is set to stretch from mid-March to the end of May. However, the BCCI will give serious consideration to expanding to a full home-and-away, 94-match schedule for the upcoming media-rights cycle, which begins in 2028, according to IPL chairman Arun Dhumal.
“Definitely, that might be an opportunity,” Dhumal said. “We’ve been discussing in ICC, we’ve been discussing in-house in BCCI. Given how the interest of the fan is changing with regard to bilateral and ICC events, in regard to franchise cricket and T20 cricket, we’ll have to talk more seriously about it and see how we can create maximum value for the stakeholders of the game.
“Ideally, we’d want a larger window, or to maybe go on from 74 to 84 or 94 at some point… So that every team gets to play against every team home and away, for that, you need 94 games.
“Given the window and the kind of commitments that we have with regards to bilateral cricket and ICC events, that may not be possible in the short term. But given the landscape, how it is changing and evolving over the years, maybe at some point in time we would look and take that option.
“There’s been so much cricket: we came back from Australia from a Test series, we had this Champions Trophy, and on top of that we have this IPL. That is why it was decided that it doesn’t make sense from going from 74 to 84 [in 2025], but whenever we think that the time is opportune, we’ll take that call.”