Lalit Modi's new plan to revolutionise The Hundred: Private league and IPL teams

Lalit Modi, the mastermind behind the Indian premier League(IPL), could soon be working with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to transform the fortunes of The Hundred and the cricket board’s revenue. As per a report in Cricbuzz, Modi, who has been banned for life by BCCI, recently made a proposal to the ECB to restructure The Hundred tournament and privatise it, which can help the England board increase its revenue.

The Hundred currently consists of eight clubs which have both men’s and women’s teams and the tournament is owned by the ECB. While matches in The Hundred also consists of 20 overs, each over only have five legal deliveries, leading to only 100 legal deliveries per innings.

One of the recommendations in the proposal is to align the tournament with the T20 format.

Some of the other features of the proposal are:

Increasing the number of clubs to 10

Privatising the league with minimal IPL involvement

Allocation of a USD 100 million purse for the players over 10 years

It has been reportedly proposed that the restructuring would help in bringing in USD 1 billion in revenue for ECB.

Modi, while speaking to Cricbuzz, confirmed that the proposal includes making the league private but with maximum of two IPL teams or owners.

“I have suggested only two IPL teams; it has to be an English league and not India dominated,” Modi said.

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It was first reported in December 2023 that ECB is looking to go private with The Hundred to help the counties, who own the clubs, become financially secure. The changes in The Hundred tournament are expected to come from 2025.

Another important thing to note here is that ECB will be needing approval from one-third (12) of the 18 county sides to make any changes.

Roadblock for Modi

There’s one potential roadblock among all this for Modi and that is the fact that he has been banned for life by BCCI.

Lalit Modi was banned by BCCI in 2013 after he was found guilty, by the BCCI’s disciplinary committee, of financial irregularities, indiscipline and “actions detrimental to the interest of the BCCI".

It has been reported that ECB may consult BCCI before going ahead with Modi’s proposal.

“Being an sovereign and autonomous body, ECB is not obliged to consult the BCCI but it may for the sake of bilateral relations with the BCCI,” said a source to Cricbuzz.

IPL teams interested to invest in The Hundred

It has also been reported that Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are interested in investing in The Hundred. SRH apparently also held talks with ECB. However, there’s no confirmation if there interest is for the restructure tournament proposed by Modi.