The Saudi Arabian government wants to establish the richest T20 league in the world in the Gulf and has presented its proposals to the Indian Premier League’s owners. With the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and LIV Golf finding their way into Formula 1, the Saudi Arabian government is actively investing in a number of sports. Their next objective is to fully realise cricket’s unrealized potential.
The Gulf state, which has signed on as a sponsor for the IPL 2023 season, plans to create the richest T20 league in the world and has contacted the IPL owners about it.
Indian players likely to play
Indian players are currently prohibited from competing in foreign T20 competitions by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and the suggestion from Saudi Arabia’s government representatives for their biggest T20 league may be necessary to persuade BCCI to change its regulations.
The Age reported that discussions on the Saudi Arabian league had been ongoing for almost a year. Any prospective Gulf league would need to receive approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its member nations, including Australia.
Gulf states are investing heavily in sports
The Gulf state has frequently been criticized for attempting to obscure its human rights record through its investments in sports due to its large stakes in major sports and events around the globe, including the takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Greg Barclay, the chairman of the International Cricket Council, earlier revealed that Saudi Arabia is looking to spend extensively on cricket after pouring money into other sports like football and Formula 1.
“If you look at other sports they’ve been involved in, cricket is something I imagine would be attractive to them,” said Barclay.
“Given their advance into the sport more generally, cricket would work quite well for Saudi Arabia. They’re pretty keen to invest in sport, and given their regional presence, cricket would seem a pretty obvious one to pursue,” he added.
Saudi Arabia intends to improve its relations with India
The report further states that Saudi Arabia intends to improve its relations with India through cricket and that it wants to surpass India as the top tourist destination by the year 2030.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak in India necessitated the IPL to be held outside of the subcontinent, the United Arab Emirates has been the preferred country whenever games are hosted in the gulf.
The ILT20, a T20 league created by the UAE, was also introduced last year, and many IPL owners became participants.
Prince Saud bin Mishal Al-Saud, the president of the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation, expects that Saudi Arabia would eventually become a “destination for global cricket.”
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