Punjab Kings co-owner Mohit Burman wants a Premier League-style home-and-away format for the IPL. He said, "IPL has to become longer so that all 10 teams play each other home and away." Burman feels the league should prioritize this structure before adding any new teams to the current competition.
After Juhi Chawla suggested pushing the Indian Premier League to January, Punjab Kings co-owner Mohit Burman wants a Premier League-style tweak to the competition. Burman said that the league should be longer, with the 10 teams being able to play against each other in a home-and-away format.
The Premier League runs for close to 10 months, with all 20 teams playing 38 games in the home-and-away format. Currently, every IPL team plays 14 matches in total, but not all the sides play each other twice.
The IPL is expected to expand its fixture list from 74 to 94 matches when the next media rights cycle begins in 2028.
With discussions about extending the tournament's annual window gaining momentum, Burman believes the priority should be to ensure that every franchise gets to play the other nine teams twice, both at home and away.
"IPL has to become longer so that all 10 teams play each other home and away. There are several factors to consider when discussing the IPL window - the international cricket calendar, player availability, weather conditions, broadcasters and, of course, the fans.
"The current window has worked extremely well for the league, but I'm sure the BCCI will continue evaluating what is best for the tournament," Burman told PTI.
KKR co-owner Juhi Chawla suggested that the league should move away from its traditional March-May window and start in January to provide better conditions for everyone.
'NO MORE TEAMS FOR NOW'
There were reports suggesting that the IPL may add two more teams in the future. However, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia quickly squashed the rumours, saying that an expansion isn't in the works at the moment.
Burman was in full support of this stand by BCCI, saying that expansion should only come in once all the current teams are able to play each other in a home-and-away format.
"There should be no more new teams until the window is long enough for every team to play each other home and away," said Burman.
Currently, the BCCI have declined the idea of making changes to the current schedule of the league and IPL 2027 will start in March next year.