IPL to have 10 teams from 2022

In a big decision that would see the world’s most popular T-20 league expand, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’ general body on Thursday approved a 10-team IPL from the 2022 edition at its Annual General Meeting in Ahmedabad. The IPL is currently contested between eight teams. In another major development, the Board, in principle, decided to back the ICC’s bid for inclusion of cricket, in the T-20 format, in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics “after getting some clarifications from the International Olympic Committee”.

Also, it was decided that all first-class players, both men and women, will be suitably compensated for the curtailed domestic season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The BCCI plans to get the domestic season underway, after several months’ delay, in January with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 championship. In other decisions, veteran Congress leader Rajiv Shukla was officially anointed the Board’s vice president in place of his protege Mahim Verma from Uttarakhand.