English cricket steps up plans to attract Indian stars to Hundred
ECB holds talks with Indian board about investing in teams Sharing Asian TV rights could help lure likes of Kohli
The England and Wales Cricket Board is ready to offer Indian Premier League franchises a stake in Hundred teams and the Indian board a slice of Asian television rights in an attempt to attract superstars such as Virat Kohli to the competition.
Talks between the ECB and Board of Control for Cricket in India have been taking place since before the pandemic but moved up a notch when Tom Harrison and Ian Watmore, the ECB chief executive and chairman, were in Ahmedabad during the pinkball Test last month.
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ECB is considering a number of potential partnership opportunities with India as it looks to capitalise on a relationship with the game’s powerhouse that has never been stronger. The options include the eight IPL franchises each taking a 25 per cent stake in an allocated Hundred team. Another is giving the BCCI a revenue share of broadcast income in Asia, the value of which would correlate to Indian players appearing in the Hundred.
There have also been discussions within English cricket of IPL teams playing in England at Test grounds, asking the ECB to provide more content as they look to recover from the financial losses of the pandemic. It is expected that India players will be made available this summer for the women’s Hundred, potentially paving the way for the men to follow in 2022.
The pandemic delayed progress and it is unlikely any agreement will be possible before the start of this year’s inaugural Hundred. The talks last month in Ahmedabad, the first face-to-face meetings with India of Watmore’s chairmanship, were wide-ranging and covered more than just the Hundred.
Nothing was finalised but further meetings are planned this summer when India are in England. Tickets for the Hundred will go on sale next
month. The tournament will start at the Oval on July 21, just before England’s five-test series against India. The ECB hopes the tournament will host full crowds and, with India here at the same time, it hopes BCCI officials will see it as a potential investment opportunity.
For the ECB, unlocking Indian players is seen as crucial for attracting the south Asian audience as well as increasing recognition of the Hundred in India. It would need only one Indian player per team – so, just eight overall – to give the competition a real lift and set it apart from other franchise tournaments.
IPL franchises Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders have already expressed an interest in buying into Hundred franchises, as revealed by The Daily Telegraph.
Offering the BCCI a share of media rights in Asia is seen as another way to persuade it to provide India players. The ECB believes with Indians such as Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant, the rights deal could be worth about £20million a year in Asia alone.
Talks between the boards started under Colin Graves and have accelerated since Sourav Ganguly became the secretary of the BCCI. He played for Lancashire and believes Indian players should be exposed to English conditions as part of their development.
It was noticeable this week that Lancashire signed Shreyas Iyer for the Royal London Cup, a further sign of thawing relations between the ECB and BCCI. More signings are expected, with India likely to bring two squads to England this summer so they can play intrasquad matches before the World Test Championship final and the five-match Test series with England. Those not involved in the Test series will be encouraged to play county cricket.
The Indian board has been reluctant to let its players appear in overseas tournaments for fear of diluting the IPL and helping a rival, but the “big three” of England, India and Australia realise it is in their interest to work together on their own franchise tournaments.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported last week that Cricket Australia was open to the potential of external investment in the Big Bash after a decade of going it alone.
The cost of the Hundred competition sits on the ECB’S books and Harrison told a Department for Digital,
Culture Media and Sport committee last year that the budget for the competition in its first year would be £40million. He said revenue would be £51million and claimed a profit of £11million. But this does not include the £1.3million paid to each of the 18 counties, with Harrison telling the committee it is a “dividend and not part of the P&L [profit and loss] of the tournament”.
Harrison was accused by Julian Knight MP, chairman of the DCMS committee, of a “huge gamble” by launching the Hundred. “There’s been widespread disquiet over the advent of the Hundred and the fact there was a large outlay to bring it about. You’ve bet the house, effectively, on red and, unfortunately, the casino is closed,” he said.
An ECB spokesman declined to comment.