T20 World Cup 2024 schedule favours India prime-time: West Indies cricket CEO

If you are wondering why matches are starting at very different times in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, the answer is that the schedule has been planned in a way that can cater to the Indian market. Some of the matches in the T20 World Cup 2024 are starting as early as 10.30 AM local time in the West Indies and USA so that they can be broadcast at prime time in India. For example, India’s opener against Ireland will start at 8 PM IST in India time but in New York, it will start at 10.30 AM local time.

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Some matches, however, are also starting at 7.30 or 8.30 PM local time to cater to the local crowd. Due to the time difference, these games are starting at 5 AM or 6 AM in India time.

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Johnny Grave, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) CEO, in an interview with Indian Express, said that the schedule of the T20 World Cup 2024 was made keeping in mind India’s time zone.

“I think everyone accepts that the vast majority of revenues for all ICC events comes from one market,” Grave said. “Therefore it is really important that we find a balance between starting matches at prime time in India and for home fans. We have half the matches early for Star Sports and then we have gone as late as possible so they will start early in the morning in India, so they should still get a decent viewership.”

“We as hosts can focus on the local fans attending the evening games and the 10:30 morning games will allow us to get school kids to watch some World Cup cricket for free.”

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He also shared that the West Indies cricket board has decided that no international cricket will be played during major T20 franchise tournaments like IPL or CPL to give the players freedom to compete in T20 leagues.

“Very early on we gave players a guaranteed window every year in their contracts that they could play both the IPL and CPL and assured them we would not play any international cricket in those windows. It is just about trying to get good scheduling and then good open communication with the players to try and find the balance. We respect the fact that players now have a choice so if for whatever reason they want to make themselves unavailable for a tour, then we give them a NOC, but we never hold their place in the West Indies team. So, they have to understand they run the risk of their replacement doing well and then they have to fight to win that place back.

“We’ve stopped worrying about the players being unavailable. If they want to maximise their earnings playing franchise cricket at whatever point in their career as long as our players are actively involved in cricket and actively working hard on their skills, it’s fine,” he said.