Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni [Source: AFP]IPL chairman Arun Dhumal has now reacted to the expansion of the teams and also spoke about the possibility of adding more franchises in the future. Notably, the Indian Premier League, which started in 2008, has now become like a festival for cricket fans. The tournament changed the way T20 cricket was seen across the world, and it also created a new style of franchise cricket. Nineteen years later, the tournament has become a massive success and continues to grow every year.IPL expansion over the yearsOriginally, the popular league started with 8 teams and continued with the same number of teams from 2008 to 2021. There was a brief expansion between 2011 and 2013 when more teams were added. After that period, the league again returned to 8 teams and continued in the same format for several years.It was not until 2022 that the league expanded again in a permanent way. Two new teams were added which were Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Since then, the cash-rich league has had 10 teams and the tournament became even bigger.Discussion about more teams in IPLEven though the IPL already has 10 teams, fans still want more teams in the tournament. Therefore, the big question is whether the lucrative league could move beyond 10 franchises. However, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal has not closed the door on this idea. At the same time, he clearly said that expansion will not happen if it affects the quality of the tournament or creates scheduling problems. In a talk with the Financial Times, he explained the situation and said:“It depends on the window. There is a lot of investor interest, because the kind of return on investment the IPL has given is exceptional. But it would not happen unless we have a bigger window.The larger picture has to be how many bilaterals, how many International Cricket Council (ICC) events and what windows are available for these leagues. It is not only about the league. In case these leagues are to be held regularly, that is the new world order for cricket: fewer bilaterals, more league cricket, and in between you have ICC events, a bit like football.“Also Read: Rishabh Pant Told To Learn From Vaibhav Sooryavanshi In IPL 2026Why IPL cannot expand immediatelyThe IPL is the biggest source of revenue for the BCCI, so naturally the board is interested in expanding the tournament. Even then, expansion cannot happen immediately due to time and weather limitations. Dhumal explained this clearly and said:“For the IPL to move from 74 to 94, we really need a bigger window. Most of the international calendar is already spoken for. It is a limited window between mid-March and the end of May,” he said.“As soon as June starts, the monsoon approaches the southern part of India, so there is no way you can extend at that point in time. If we try to go from 74 to 94 games in the current window, we will end up having more double-headers. That does not work well for broadcasters. We have to look at their interests too. That is why we have restricted ourselves to 74 games.”So, the intention to expand the the league is clearly there. However, the expansion will only happen when a bigger time window is available. Therefore, any major changes like adding more teams or increasing matches may only happen after the next FTP cycle from 2027 onwards.Also Read: Australia Vs Zimbabwe Schedule 2026 Announced
