Indian Premier League hoping to expand to 94-game season, says chairman

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is hoping to expand to a 94-match season in 2028 which would allow each of the 10 teams in the competition to play each other home and away, chairman Arun Singh Dhumal said.

The IPL was extended to 74 matches in the 2022 season, when the Lucknow Super Giants and the Gujarat Titans became the newest franchises to join the league.

Asked if the tournament would be further expanded in the next International Cricket Council FTP (Future Tours Programme) calendar beginning in 2028, Dhumal said discussions had begun with the world governing body and the Indian board (BCCI).

“Ideally, we’d want a larger window, or to maybe go from 74 games to 84 or 94 at some point. So that every team gets to play against every team home and away, for that, you need 94 games,” Dhumal told ESPNCricinfo in an interview published on Monday.

“Given the window and the kind of commitments that we have with regards to bilateral cricket and ICC events, that may not be possible in the short term… There’s been so much cricket.

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“We (India) came back from Australia from a test series, we had this Champions Trophy, and on top of that we have this IPL. That is why it was decided that it doesn’t make sense from going from 74 to 84 (in 2025), but whenever we think that the time is opportune, we’ll take that call.”

The growth of lucrative domestic Twenty20 leagues has strained cricket’s bloated calendar further, with the introduction of new competitions in recent years reducing the windows available for test and one-day cricket.

Some international players have chosen to retire from certain formats due to the demands of the schedule.

In research published by the Professional Cricketers Association last year, a majority of professionals in England and Wales expressed concern about the county cricket schedule.