Why should the IPL be reduced to 30 days?
The Indian team had a dismal tour of England and came back with only the T20I trophy in hand. While the 3-match ODI series was too short to pick the better team, the 5 Test matches gave a reasonable chance and it turned out to be the English by a few miles. One factor that proved decisive was the services of players that team India lost due to injuries.
Among these, the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Wriddhiman Saha hurt the most. Kumar has been India's most potent bowler in overseas conditions and a handy lower-order batsman whereas the replacements of Saha namely Dinesh Karthik and Rishab Pant were shoddy with their glove-work.
Now the question remains, are the 60 matches of IPL every year a little too much? Let us take a look at the reasons why the IPL should be reduced to 30 days.
Stress/Fatigue factor
The shoddy performances on important tours like the one in England go down to the two-month-long season of the IPL which these players play even with injuries, only to aggravate them further. Also, the fatigue factor creeps in and the hot summer nights drain every ounce of energy from the tank before a big tour.
In the modern era, with jam-packed cricketing calendar, it is almost impossible for the players to feature in every tournament that their country plays. Hence, some players across the world have already started to skip first-class cricket to escape fatigue.
Fortunately, no Indian player as of now has expressed his unwillingness to play red-ball cricket yet, but it will be just a matter of time before it happens.
Focusing on fitness and skills and playing county cricket
A shorter IPL season will give the cricketers a one-month break around May-June every year which is plenty of time to work on their fitness and skills. Besides, some of these players can go to England to play county cricket for their practice in foreign conditions.
This will help them stay used to the overseas conditions all the year round and it won't be such a big challenge to adapt to the conditions next time they tour countries like England.
Cricket in small doses
Every year, the IPL enthralls cricket fans in its early days. However, as the tournament nears its business end, the excitement levels understandably go down and most fans are interested only in the matches of the teams that they support.
Such deterioration in interest is purely because of the amount of cricket which is played in these two months. Having the IPL reduced to 30 days and 7 matches per team would eliminate the amount of boredom and could get the fans more engaged in every game.
Revised structure of the schedule
As a change in the structure of the IPL, every team should play every other team once, which will bring down the league stage to 7 games per team. To make the things fair, the teams can play three home games, three away games and one game at a neutral venue.
The playoffs structure should be the same with the Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2 followed by the final to be played on the home ground of the defending champions.
For the greater good of the game
A 30-day IPL season isn't as easy as it seems. It is a gigantically difficult task convince the team owners, the broadcasters and other stakeholders who have invested crores in this league. This is the reason why we may not see this happening.
It would take big courage from BCCI and the IPL governing council to compromise on the earnings for the greater good of the game and the players. However, if every stakeholder looks at the bigger picture, then we cannot rule this out either. All we can do is to enjoy to our fullest and hope that there are no repercussions involved.
