Despite immense popularity of Indian Premier League, which is played under the umbrella of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) as a club level domestic Twenty20 series, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the apex body of international cricket has denied to create window for cash-rich short form of cricket in its Future Tours Programme (FTP), stating that if ICC will give any concession to IPL, it would have to give the same to other domestic Twenty20 leagues as well.
Ruling out to create any window for IPL in ICC’s FTP, ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said, "The consequence of that (an IPL window) is what do we do with the Big Bash League? What do we do with other premier leagues; Sri Lanka is launching one, Bangladesh has one."
"I know people might say the IPL is the premier league, but once you provide a window for one particular member, you have to be conscious of the fact you may well have to do it for other members. Hence, why we have not been supportive of a window specifically for any one of those domestic leagues," added Lorgat, who was here to present Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland the ICC's ODI shield as Australia finished on top of the ODI rankings in the 2011-12 season.
IPL's clash with the schedule of other countries since the inception of the league in 2008 has been a serious issue for world cricket.
Due to the IPL this year, West Indies players were forced to choose between the IPL and their home Test series against Australia. Next year New Zealand's cricketers, who earn significantly as IPL player compared to their national contracts, will experience a similar situation as they are scheduled to tour England for a Test series that will clash with the second half of the IPL.
Sutherland said national boards are doing what they can to allow their players take part in the IPL.
"I think there's a notional window already for the IPL. I think it exists. There's an inevitability around some overlap and countries are working around that to the best of their ability.
"There are challenges ultimately - it's been raised with clashes from time to time. But I think there's a national window that most countries are working with and around, in order to allow their players the opportunity to play in IPL," Sutherland said.
--With IANS Inputs--
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