Alistair Dobson, General Manager of the Big Bash League, said around 5,000 tickets have been sold for the BBL-16 season opener, which will be played at the MAC Stadium here on December 12.

It is the first time an overseas T20 league match will be played in India and is part of a week-long celebration of India-Australia bilateral ties.

“We know the BBL is already really popular in India. I think we were really optimistic when we put tickets on sale that that would translate into some sales, but it’s certainly exceeded our expectations,” said Dobson on the encouraging response to the opener that will feature Melbourne Renegades and Perth Scorchers.

“It’s a great opportunity, not just for our league but for our clubs and importantly for our players to come and show just how good they are in arguably the biggest market in the world,” he added.

Dobson also promised fans will enjoy a unique experience.

“The BBL offers something slightly different. We hear from our fans in India that they really want to experience it in person, the colour, noise, and music that comes with a BBL game. It’s a combination of taking our game to Chennai, but also having the clarity to bring a BBL experience,” said Dobson.

A combined 20 international caps across formats. 224 encounters in a high-pressure environment like the IPL. Mahli Beardman made batters possessing this level of experience look silly with his pace during Australia A’s thumping win over India A in the first one-dayer.

The 21-year-old picked career-best figures of four for 23 using one simple tactic — steam in and bowl fast. He took the new ball for the visitors and by the time his first spell of 140 kmph projectiles was done, India A was already in a spot of bother.

Beardman first made his mark during the 2024 Under-19 World Cup. His searing pace was evident then, and he has only sharpened his tools since. A productive Big Bash League campaign earned him a T20I debut against Pakistan.

“We’ve got a rich history of fast bowling in Western Australia (WA), where I come from. I grew up watching Mitchell Johnson. I was lucky enough to be coached by Dennis Lillee. That’s something that has been passed down,” the speedster explained.

Spending time as a standby player in the Australian squad has helped Beardman pick the brains of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

“I try and be as much of a sponge as possible and soak up as much knowledge as I can,” the youngster said. “They’ve been awesome from a technical aspect. Being so mature and having played so much cricket, they’ve got a really simple outlook on the game,” he explained.

With more such outings with the ball, it won’t be long before the 21-year-old reclaims a spot in the senior team.

Indian corporates, which already own teams in T20 franchise leagues of South Africa, UAE, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and USA as well as The Hundred in England appear hesitant to get into Australia and the Big Bash League which has decided to sell stakes in their teams too. This might just be a strategic reluctance in order to drive the prices down.

Cricket Australia is hoping that privatisation will bring in a billion dollars, a nice round figure but one which might remain a pipe dream if Indian corporates show no interest.

Gradually, inexorably, cricket, which is already in the command of the Indian cricket board might be moving beyond official administrative control of such elected bodies to become a plaything of billionaires with huge cash reserves and egos to match. The current Indian monopoly other cricket boards complain about will be nothing compared to the corporate oligarchy that might follow.

“Owners in the 21st century are destroying what took more than a hundred years to build,” wrote Dave Zirin of US sport a decade ago. The subtitle of his book Bad Sports is: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love. It can be read as a cautionary tale.

ICC committee

The International Cricket Council has formed a committee to assess the growing power of the franchises, with Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal as chairman. It is looking to align franchise leagues with the Future Tours Programme and planning a World Club T20 tournament.

And what will the ICC do if the committee decides that monopoly is not good for the game, as indeed it isn’t? Giving in to India’s demands was in the DNA of the sport’s governing body long before the current Chairman Jay Shah took over. Will the ICC create sensible rules to prevent too much power resting in the hands of too few?

For Indian corporates, Australia is the final frontier. Last year they boosted English cricket by half a billion pounds by investing in The Hundred.

There are 16 leagues around the world. There were 87 teams in this year’s T20 World Cup cycle. And cricket (T20) returns to the Olympics at Los Angeles in 2028. The game appears to be thriving, which accounts for the huge corporate interest. Cricket boards around the world for all their faults have a default job description — develop the game at the grassroots, retain its character and distinctiveness through the red ball game, spread it across the world, and ensure a clear-cut path from the schools to the international level. There is corruption (and not just financial), th—re is political interference, sometimes even outright laziness, but the game has prospered.

Corporates don’t have confusing goals. Theirs is a single-point programme involving just the bottom line, or return on investment. In recent decades cricket has become huge business, but to hand over the game to businessmen might not be in its best interests.

Monopoly is unhealthy in business or sport or in the business of sport. It ruins competition, encourages manipulation of rules and results, ignores what is important for the sport if it doesn’t add to the profits.

Relaxing the rules

How long before the Board of Control for Cricket in India eases its rule of not allowing active Indian players to play in other leagues? Reliance (Mumbai Indians) and GMR (Delhi Capitals) own or have stakes in four other franchises, in England, South Africa, UAE and the US. Players cannot serve two masters, and it is possible that club contracts might come into conflict with those with the board.

Possibilities abound. Players might be forced to choose. Franchise cricket, or T20 itself might be governed by a body which has little to do with the ICC. Compromises might affect the FTP and Test cricket. Forget the rampant six-hitting or struggling bowlers, T20 has bigger problems off the field.

The Big Three — India, England, Australia — are also the teams keenest on Test cricket, but for how long? The domestic franchises belong to the cricket boards, only the teams have different owners. True. You could also argue that franchise cricket will keep Test cricket alive, and that’s a good argument.

But it assumes a level of enlightenment in those controlling the game that might not always be available.

The opening ‌match of Australia’s men’s ​cricket Big ⁠Bash League will take place in ‌India in December this year, ‌Australia’s Prime Minister ‌Anthony ⁠Albanese said ⁠on Friday (July 10, 2026).

Mr. Albanese announced with Prime Minister ​Narendra Modi, on ‌the final day of his three-day visit to ‌Australia. The match ​in Chennai will make the domestic ‌Australian T20 competition the first foreign cricket league to play in India ‌and will be the ​centrepiece of a week-long Australian cultural ⁠festival held across ⁠India in December.

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin could be the first high-profile Indian cricketer to play in the Big Bash League (BBL) after being approached by the Australian board, according to a media report on Friday (September 5, 2025).

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg is in talks with the spinner, who ended his Indian Premier League (IPL) career last month, over a possible stint Down Under this season, according to a report

“To get someone with Ashwin’s credentials to come over here for the BBL will be great at so many levels,” Greenberg told the website.

“He’s a champion cricketer, who will bring a lot to the Big Bash and to our cricket summer.”

Ashwin won two IPL titles with Chennai Super Kings before quitting the world’s richest T20 tournament last month, saying he would become an “explorer of the game around various leagues”.

While several members of the Indian women’s team play in the BBL, the country’s board does not allow its contracted male players to play in overseas leagues.

Ashwin, who turns 39 this month, was India’s frontline test spinner before he quit international cricket last year.