Hard To Match Quality And Standard Of IPL - Tom Moody's Bold Statement
Franchise cricket has been on the rise in the last few years as different countries are launching their own franchise league. The Indian Premier League (IPL) started the trend in 2008 followed by the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia. Currently, we have the Vitality T20 Blast and The Hundred from England, the SA20 League from South Africa, the Lankan Premier League from Sri Lanka, the Pakistan Super League from Pakistan, the Caribbean Premier League from the West Indies and now two more have been added which are ILT20 from UAE sand Major League Cricket from the USA.
The IPL was the first-ever cash-rich T20 league to exist as it started in 2008 by the BCCI and since then it has been the most popular T20 league in the world with a humongous viewership and no other T20 league has matched its level. The IPL franchises also have their teams in different T20 leagues because of the revenue they generate. In fact, SA20 and MLC are entirely funded by the IPL and have all their teams under IPL franchises.
Tom Moody, who is a famous personality in the T20 leagues is currently in Dubai as the team director of the Desert Vipers has said that the ILT20 is currently in the infant stage right now but the standards are very good. He says that the IPL is the premium league and it is very hard to match the level of standard that is displayed over there.
“This league is still very much in its infant stage. But the standard here is very good. Obviously, the IPL is the premium franchise league and it is very hard to match the quality and the standard that is displayed there,” said Tom Moody, as quoted by TOI.
IPL Will Begin In March And Will Run For Almost Two Months
The IPL 2024 is expected to be scheduled in March and will go on till the end of May. The 10 teams will be competing against each other for the prestigious IPL trophy and it will be interesting to see who will win the title this year. Chennai Super Kings are the defending champions this year and they have won five IPL titles levelling the record with Mumbai Indians. The two franchises are the most successful in IPL with ten titles amongst them.
Tom Moody also talked about the decreasing popularity of other formats because of T20 leagues. He denied the issue and said, “We have seen so many wonderful Test matches and series in recent months. It’s there to stay, although many playing nations will find it difficult to sustain a full calendar for Test cricket purely because of the number of franchise events that are going around the world. But at the end of the day, if you ask any young player breaking through international setup, their prized achievement will be to play Test cricket.”
Recently, Australia and Pakistan faced each other in a three-match Test series where Australia whitewashed Pakistan by 3-0 whereas India and South Africa also clashed in a two-match Test series which was levelled being 1-1.
