IPL now has a window in ICC's Future Tours Programme

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has turned out be the biggest T20 league in cricket history since its inception in the year of 2008. Almost every big name has taken part in the lucrative league, and it’s the time of the year cricketers wait for. We have even seen cricketers compromise on their national duties to take part in the league which has grown massively with every year.

The league which has already seen ten years of success now has another feather in its cap. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recognised the BCCI organised league as a global event in it’s Future Tour Programme for 2019-2023. This makes the Indian Premier League a global event and the only T20 League during which all international cricket matches will be paused.

An internal ICC document considered the IPL dates alongside the three major ICC tournaments in the name of the World Cup, Champions Trophy and the World T20. However, a few small-scale tournaments will take place during that time which includes 2 Zimbabwe-Ireland series and 1 England-Nederland series. According to the dates put forward by the BCCI to the ICC, the IPL will be played every year from the end of March to the end of May.

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The place for an IPL window in the ICC calendar was a long though issue, but both BCCI and ICC were reluctant to make it official. The reason for the same being that considering a spot for the IPL will make way for a space for the other T20 leagues to be considered as well. But the two apex cricketing bodies have now moved on from that stance.

Geoff Allardice, the ICC’s general manager of cricket, was in India to meet Rahul Johri, the BCCI’s chief executive officer, in November to discuss the FTP in preparation for the ICC scheduling workshop in Singapore, which was held on December 7 and 8. The IPL dates for five-year cycle in the FTP (between 2019-23) are: April 3 to May 26 (2019); April 1 to May 31 (2020); March 31 to May 30 (2021); March 30 to May 29 (2022); March 29 to May 28 (2023).