The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) looks to have finalised the schedule and venue for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign. Things could’ve been a little smoother for BCCI had the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) agreed to alter the forthcoming Test series between the two nations. Former England cricketer, Mark Butcher, has termed this denial by England a ‘missed opportunity’.
The BCCI wanted ECB to prepone the Test series by a few days or reduce the gap between matches so that the Indian board can get a bigger window for the remainder of IPL Season 14. Citing logistical issues and a possible clash with ‘The Hundred’, the ECB reportedly turned down the request.
“Well, listen. I take a deep breath here … as does the nation. I think it’s a massive missed opportunity,” Butcher said during the latest Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast.
Butcher is of the opinion that had ECB agreed to BCCI’s request, they would’ve gotten the leverage over getting Indian cricket superstars like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni to play in The Hundred.
“…the ECB is absolutely desperate to make this (Hundred) work. They have to be, they have bet the house on The Hundred, but at every turn, it seems a greater power doesn’t want it to happen,” said the 48-year-old.
“And so for me, this was the opportunity where you’ll say ‘Okay, we’ll bite the bullet… We would do this for the BCCI on the proviso that we get Kohli, Dhoni, whoever we like, signed up for three years to play in The Hundred, starting 2022’.”
“And you have leverage for the first time ever: you have something that they need, that they want. Obviously, the BCCI will lose a lot of money if they don’t get the IPL in the window,” Butcher said.
Butcher, who played 71 Tests for England between 1997 and 2004, feels the cricketing world would’ve praised ECB for making the required adjustments in order for the BCCI to conclude the IPL 2021 season. Such a situation would’ve earned them the leverage they’ve now missed.
“You also have the extraordinary spectacle of the IPL being finished at the behest or because of English cricket. And you use that lever in order to get something you desperately need. So I think there’s an opportunity missed.”
Talks of holding the remainder of IPL in England had also surfaced but the BCCI seems to have zeroed in on UAE as the venue.
