Exclusive: IPL owners aiming to tie down world's best players to 12-month contracts

IPL franchises hope to contract players for 12 months a year to play across a range of teams, Venky Mysore, the chief executive of Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders, has revealed. 

This development would have seismic implications for the world game, enabling franchises to guarantee leading players lucrative year-round deals and, by extension, reduce the attractiveness of the international game.

The Knight Riders now have four teams under their umbrella - their flagship IPL franchise, the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, plus sides in the International League T20 (UAE) and Major League Cricket (US), which both launch next year. 

Other IPL teams are buying teams in other leagues - all six franchises in South Africa’s new T20 league, which launches in January - as international cricket faces heightened pressure to compete. Mysore revealed that the Knight Riders would love to be able to contract players for 12 months a year, to play for the teams in the four different leagues.

“In an ideal world, sure - because that gives us the opportunity to make our vision and our strategy even stronger,” he said. “If we were able to have X number of contracted players, and were able to use them all in different leagues, I think that would be nirvana. Hopefully, someday it will happen. I wouldn't be surprised if it did.”

One major barrier to players being contracted to franchises across different leagues is that different leagues use different recruitment rules - a mixture of auctions, drafts and individual negotiations. But Mysore said that he was hopeful of reforms to the structure, which would allow for greater continuity between teams playing in different leagues. In practice, this could allow franchises to tie up their highest-profile players to multi-year deals across leagues. If 12-month contracts were introduced, a series of leading England players would likely be targeted by franchises. Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Jonny Bairstow are already among the most coveted players in the IPL. 

“If it happened that way, at some point in the future, that’d be great,” Mysore said. “What we want to create is a common platform and a system and a culture that allows us to participate around the year - enhancing our brand, building our fan base, and providing opportunities to cricketers around the world. And in the process, you build hopefully a successful business around it.”

Mysore also said that, if the Hundred was opened up to private investment, the Knight Riders would be interested in investing in the competition.

“Our immediate reaction to any such proposal is to say, yeah, we are absolutely interested because this is part of our strategy. Whether it is the Big Bash or the Hundred, although we understand the challenges these leagues face in inviting private investments.

“Wherever we have gone, we've made it successful for the mutual benefit of the league as well as the Knight Riders. When a proposal comes to us it's because they understand the value that the Knight Riders brand brings with it and the entire package that comes with it - we know how to build those brands.”

Mysore is hopeful Indian players will eventually be allowed to participate in overseas competitions, including the Hundred. It is widely believed that Indian players would provide a major boost to the broadcasting rights of foreign leagues.

“Certainly we’re hoping that will happen at some point in the future,” Mysore said. “When we broach this topic the BCCI say, 'yeah, we have to figure out how to do something'. I think they have an open mind. But they need to figure out what’s best for Indian cricket and for Indian players. That’s how they would be thinking about it, which is fair enough. Some very good minds there would be applying their minds to this idea. If it all comes together, it’d be terrific.

“If that were allowed, even in a very limited way, it would eventually be good for Indian cricket. Some players who aren’t yet given a chance in the IPL could be the starting point.”