IPL likely to expand from 74 to 94 games from 2028, says league chairman Arun Dhumal

IPL (Indian Premier League) chairman Arun Dhumal said that from 2028 onwards, the tournament could be played in a proper home-away format. Each team will play nine home games and as many away games in a season.

During the eight-team IPL, each team played seven games at home and seven away. However, after the IPL was expanded to 10 teams in 2022, with the addition of Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans, the format has been tweaked. Teams end up playing 14 matches (seven home and seven away) after being divided into two groups of five.

Dhumal said that increasing the total number of teams in the tournament will not make sense at this point. Instead, the focus is on reviving the original home-away format, with 18 league matches for each team.

"With the given set of teams, only we can go for more number of matches," Dhumal was quoted as saying by India Today, reiterating the point he made last year.

"So it doesn't make sense as of now to increase the number of teams. Because if we have to have an equal number of home and away matches, from 74 we can go up to 94. That would be the ideal situation," he added.

So, a total of 94 matches will have to be played in an IPL season. This is only going to be possible if the BCCI can get a longer window to host the tournament. The other option is to have multiple double headers. However, this format is generally disliked by broadcasters due to split viewership and lower ad revenue.

The current bilateral calendar is locked until 2027, leaving the BCCI with a finite 60-to-65-day window. The BCCI is expected to negotiate a dedicated two-and-a-half-month window in the next ICC cycle, effectively putting a stop to international cricket to allow the world's premier franchise T20 league some breathing space.

"Since the bilaterals are locked in till 2027, we would need a bigger window to raise the number of games from 74 to 94. So we are looking for a bigger window post-2027 bilateral cycle. In case we can get that, we will definitely try to have 94 games," Dhumal explained.