BCCI President Sourav Ganguly on Thursday (June 16) dismissed the theory that the cricketers will now be interested in playing the IPL rather than international cricket because of the money factor in the T20 league.
According to Ganguly, players "play for the pride of representing India" and he cited the examples of Sunil Gavaskar, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid to put forward his point.
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"First thing first, money can't be related to performances. From the times of Sunil Gavaskar to Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid, the money was nowhere close to what the players get now. But all of them had the hunger to perform. I don't think players will only play for the money. Players play for the stature they get and the pride of representing India. Every player would want to win big international tournaments," Ganguly told The Times of India.
Since its inception in 2008, IPL has always provided BCCI with a huge chunk of money. It is considered the world’s most lucrative T20 league. The brand value of IPL has also seen it getting compared to various sporting leagues across the globe.
The league’s growth on Tuesday (June 14) took many by surprise after it amassed ₹48,390 crores across television and digital media sales for the next five-year cycle. For TV, Star won the bid while the Viacom18 acquired rights for the digital media.
Viacom18 bought the digital for Rs 23,758 crores and it also won the bid for Australia, South Africa and United Kingdom rights. On the other hand, Star India won TV rights for Rs 23,575 crore along with Times Internet, which got the rights to the Middle East North Africa, the United States and the Rest of the World.
"The planning for the media rights started two years ago. It was meticulously done. It has been a great year for Indian cricket so far. We have completed the domestic season, have got packed houses back in stadiums, the IPL was wonderfully conducted and now this mega deal. I want to congratulate Disney-Star, Viacom18 and Times Internet for playing a part," Ganguly said.
The former India skipper also confirmed that bilateral tours will continue like before amid the talks around a bigger window for IPL.
"Bilateral tours will continue. The IPL is an Indian tournament. Bilateral tours are for the rest of the world to generate revenue. Players from other countries need bilateral series. For the next two years, IPL will continue to have 74 matches. The next Future Tours Programme (FTP) cycle will have to be carefully worked out," Ganguly remarked.
