Considering ‘IPL IV’ where 10 teams will participate and play 94 matches, a team may win all its 18 matches in a group stage but because of two bad games in Semi finals and playoff it will find itself out of ‘IPL IV’ as well as the ‘champions league’. This may result into injustice and demoralizing to the team who has given its best throughout. To minimize the possibility of ‘luck factor’ playing the crucial role, I wish to suggest the following changes in the IPL format which may be incorporated in coming ‘IPL IV’.

1. Proposed new format for ‘IPL IV’
A. Why it is required?
1. In a recently concluded ‘IPL III’ we have witnessed that Mumbai Indians was a consistent
and quality performer throughout most of the matches played [winning 10 games out of
14], however because of poor performance in one single match [final] they could not lift
the trophy.
2. Same goes with the team of Deccan Chargers, they became number two in ‘IPL III’ by
winning their last five crucial matches, but because of two bad games they will not be
playing the ‘champions league’ in September 2010.
3. As the experts say “cricket is a game of chance and handling pressure etc. etc.” but in a
series such as IPL which is magnificent in terms of importance as well as grand in its
schedule, as a cricket lover I hope to see a ‘tournament champion’ who played better
cricket throughout the tournament and not on a particular day.
4. Considering ‘IPL IV’ where 10 teams will participate and play 94 matches, a team may
win all its 18 matches in a group stage but because of two bad games in Semi finals and
playoff it will find itself out of ‘IPL IV’ as well as the ‘champions league’. This may result
into injustice and demoralizing to the team who has given its best throughout.
5. To minimize the possibility of ‘luck factor’ playing the crucial role, I wish to suggest the
following changes in the IPL format which may be incorporated in coming ‘IPL IV’.
B. Proposed ‘Three round’ format: ‘Thrill never ends .....’
6. ‘Round I’ - 10 team, 45 matches
a. In ‘IPL IV’ we will have ten teams and each team will play one match with each
other.
b. Each team will have to play nine matches in ‘Round I’. The venues may be
decided as follows;
i. Top five teams of ‘IPL III’ and two new teams will host five matches on
draw basis,
ii. Eighth team of ‘IPL III’ will host four matches and bottom two of ‘IPL III’
will host three matches on draw basis,
c. After the completion of ‘Round I’, the top six teams on the table will march into
‘Round II’.
Proposed new format for ‘IPL IV’ Page 1 of 3

2. 7. ‘Round II’ - 6 teams, 15 matches
a. Here, we will have six teams and each team will play one match with each other.
The points of ‘Round I’ will be carried forward to ‘Round II’.
b. Each team will have to play five matches in ‘Round II’. The venues will be decided
as follows;
i. The winner of ‘Round I’ will host the match in ‘Round II’ e.g. if the match
between A and B was won by B in ‘Round I’ then the ‘Round II’ match
between A and B will be hosted by B,
c. After the completion of ‘Round II’, the top three teams will get themselves
qualified for champion’s league.
8. ‘Round III’ - 2 teams, Best of three finals
a. Here, we will have ‘best of three finals’ between top two teams of the table.
b. The venues will be decided as follows;
i. The table topper will host first and third final (if any), and
ii. The number two team will host second final.
C. Advantages and disadvantages of the proposed format
9. Advantages
a. The maximum number of matches to be played by the team before the finals will
be fourteen [in IPL ‘IV’ this number goes to Nineteen including Semi finals]. The
total number of matches will be 63 for 10 teams [in ‘IPL IV’ the total number of
matches is 94]. The reduced number of matches will result into lower burden on
the players, organizers and logistics.
b. In the proposed format, every match till the last match will be crucial for the
teams and every position in the table have direct impact on the team’s chances
in the league as well as carry financial consequences in terms of hosting the
matches next year. Therefore, every match will be fought with utmost intensity
and will carry equal amount of interest from players, organizers, followers as
well as viewers.
c. The above intensity and consistent interest may result into optimum and
constant viewership on TV as well as in stadiums which may lead to increase
advertising and promotional rates compensating for the reduced number of
matches.
Proposed new format for ‘IPL IV’ Page 2 of 3

3. d. In this format the winning is very crucial and important, hence the quality of
cricket played on-the-field and strategy off-the-field will be of a high quality
resulting into a great game of cricket.
e. ‘Best of three finals’ will give fair chance to both the finalist in their race to
championships and the winner of the tournament will be the team who played
the quality cricket consistently.
10. Disadvantages
a. Most of the local revenues such as gate receipts, sponsorships may directly
related with the performance of the team and hence players may be pressurized
by the owners for their performance.
b. The franchise of the consistent non performer team may face significant financial
losses.
For any comments or discussion on the above please contact
Romesh S A Sankhe, e-mail @ romesh_sankhe@rediffmail.com or call @ 9892 892504
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