Indian Premier League(IPL) and Big Bash League(BBL) are the top two most attended cricket leagues in the world. Both are franchises based cricket leagues. Both attract huge TV audiences. Both showcase some of the most extraordinary individual and team performances. Yet they are some areas in which BBL is way ahead of IPL .
The concept of T20 league cricket was introduced to the world by England and Wales Cricket Board ( ECB) when they introduced T20 Cup in 2003. T20 Cup , the first ever T20 league in the world which included 18 county teams across England. The tournament was very successful. Then in 2010, the ECB changed its name to Friends Provident T20 , then again to Natwest Blast T20 in 2014. But over the years, the county based T20 league has been criticized for its bizarre schedule , quality of competition etc. Besides being the poineer of T20 cricket revolution , Natwest Blast T20 is far behind the likes of IPL and BBL in terms of TV viewership ratings and popularity around the world .
IPL is administered by Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) and IPL Governing council while BBL is administered by Cricket Australia(CA) . IPL had its inaugural edition in 2008 whereas T20 Big Bash( now BBL ) was introduced in 2005 , then as a six state based tournament . In 2011 it was renamed as KFC Big Bash League (BBL)and reintroduced as a franchise based tournament which included eight teams from six capital cities with two teams each from Melbourne and Sydney .Its popularity has soared since then .
IPL barring its controversies has been a roaring success . IPL , the first franchise based T20 cricket league in the world followed the footsteps of Premier League (England) and NBA ( USA) .Its the sixth most attended sports league in the world. It contributes more to the GDP of India than many of its states. The broadcaster [SET MAX ] makes more than 1000 crores through advertisements. The cricketers take home big fat pay cheques . The value of brand IPL is estimated at $4.16 billion. In contrast , the BBL isn’t that cash rich. It doesn’t have as many international stars as IPL . But it is surely catching up in other terms .BBL is the eighth most attended sports league in the world in respect of avg. crowds per match( just two places behind IPL). The fifth edition of BBL ( 2015–16) had a national average TV audience of 1.1 million on Network Ten, the official broadcaster . The boxing day match last year ( Melbourne derby ) saw a record crowd of 80,883 which easily surpassed the previous record of Adelaide Oval ( 52,637).
Attracting Gen Next .
Being a teenager myself ,let me tell you the two things which attracts me the most in a cricket tournament . Surely most of the next generation will agree with me.
- Short (in length ) yet fast paced and competitive T20 tournaments .
- Dynamic , uber cool commentators and broadcasters .
The IPL is surely competitive but it also hectic to watch ,its broadcasters and especially commentators are more suited to test cricket than T20. The length of the IPL has always been a issue . More than 60 matches in just over 50 days ,four strategic timeouts of 2.50 minutes each in each match ( which is absolutely ridiculous )the TV audience and spectators get a tad bored and exhausted till the tournament reaches its final stages. In contrast , BBL has only 35 matches in just under 40 days . Each team plays just 8 matches in the group stage( 4 home and 4 away) as opposed to 14 ( 7 home and 7 away) in IPL . The final takes place at the home ground of the highest ranked team in the group stage which makes more sense than at the home ground of last year’s winners which is the case in IPL .
Commentary and Broadcasters
This is the major difference between the quality of IPL and BBL .People who have followed Indian cricket over the years know only three things are omnipresent in Cricket in India .Money , controversies and commentator trio of Ravi Shastri , Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar .They all three are contracted by the BCCI .But they are also so terrible to hear . Ask any ardent cricket fan in India , he will tell you how much his ears are roasted of listening to the trio match after match , year after year. If we include the likes of Ramiz Raza , Danny Morrison etc. The commentary team of the IPL seems redundant in T20s. On the other hand , the commentary team of BBL , the likes of Ricky Ponting , Adam Gilchrist and Damien Fleming who have actually played T20 and mentored T20 teams are so pleasant and fun to hear .They are ubercool and dynamic unlike plain boring and rigid IPL commentators .
Lastly the official broadcaster of IPL , Set Max has been a huge disappoinment .Their pre and post match shows looks more like a Bollywood Drama than an actual cricket talk show .They have cheerleaders dancing to Bollywood songs in the studio .They invite Bollywood actors and actresses to promote their respective movies. Wonder how many Bollywood movies the shows producer has been a part of because he just can’t separate Cricket and Bollywood . Then there’s the cameraman who pans to the media byte hungry owners of respective IPL teams and the administrators of the BCCI after every second ball .All these things are a strict No before, during and after the cricket broadcast .
I hope the people at SET MAX and in the IPL Governing council watch the ongoing telecast of BBL season 6 and realize why the BBL is much more attractive to the youth purely from the TV audiences perspective .
