Secret talks in development to bring IPL in Australia:Aussies eye cracking another deal with PM Modi after BBL opener announcement in Chennai

After the announcement of the Big Bash League’s (BBL) opener in Chennai, India, by PM Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart from Melbourne Cricket Ground, there are speculations that an Indian Premier League game could soon be played in Australia. In addition to the match on 12 December, there has been a development that this game might not be a one-time event for Cricket Australia. Rather, the opener in Chennai might become an annual affair to deepen the sporting ties between the nations. IPL game in Australia on cards? PM Modi set to meet BBL head As reported by The Age, Albanese and Modi will also meet with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon and CA’s head of the BBL Alistair Dobson at the MCG on Friday. CA chief executive Todd Greenberg and chair Mike Baird are away at the International Cricket Council annual conference in Edinburgh. Some experts have been reporting BBL’s entry into India as sliding in another major T20 league in future. However, considering the commercial, trade, and government harmony between the two nations, IPL is not expected to oppose such a proposition. Moreover, according to The Age’s sources, CA is hopeful that the BBL game will become an annual event, and that reciprocal IPL games will be played in Australia, with an “open invitation” to the BCCI for cricket’s biggest T20 league to travel, according to two sources speaking anonymously about private talks. It is worth noting that Cricket Australia and the AFL have not made any official comment yet. If confirmed, the game in Chennai would be the product of extensive talks between CA, the BCCI and the Australian and Indian governments over several years, in particular as part of a pivot by cricket to move from a transactional relationship around broadcast deals to something more consistent. After USA, Australia plans to organise “G’day USA” in India as well There has been a strong desire within the Australian government and diplomatic corps for a regular festival to showcase relations between the two countries, similar to the “G’day USA” program that takes place annually in the United States. By linking the event to a BBL game, organisers will also ensure that cricket diplomacy can take place every year, rather than relying on the international calendar to line up convenient matches. For example, the 2023 Test in Ahmedabad where Modi and Albanese did a lap of the stadium in a motorised chariot. Other events around the BBL game are expected to include conferences, film and arts festivals and business and commercial networking. What is ‘G’day USA’? G’day USA is an annual, year-long program of events in the United States designed to strengthen Australia’s economic, cultural, and political ties with America. It showcases Australian talent, tourism, innovation, and food/wine, culminating in a high-profile Arts Gala in Los Angeles that honours prominent Australian creatives BBL game in Chennai: A move to revive T20 Champions League Another aspect to the Chennai game is a wish to eventually revive the T20 Champions League. The marquee tournament was discontinued five years after its 2008 inception due to a lack of fan interest. Now, almost twenty years later, broadcast experts feel the Champions League will only work if there is an audience for the BBL in India, for the IPL in Australia and so on.