Franchise leagues globally have commenced the search for windows in 2026 for their flagship competitions after they learned that the men’s T20 World Cup is likely to take place between February 10 and March 8. Cricbuzz states that this information was conveyed to the franchises, who are still awaiting confirmation of the final dates.
The organizers of the UAE’s International League T20, South Africa’s SA20, and Pakistan Super League (PSL) have already adjusted their windows this year in light of the Champions Trophy to be held in 2025. Similar changes would be expected for T20 World Cup tournaments. The BPL may well be affected too.
SA20 has confirmed the next season’s window- December 26 to January 26. South Africa will not have any international engagements during this phase and have seen fit to remove the customary Boxing Day Test at Centurion. The report suggests that the ILT20 may commence on January 4, capping off on February 1, and thus ending nine days from the probable start date of the T20 World Cup.
One more reason this may become a serious issue for PCB is that PSL runs in this February-March window every year. The board earlier took a bold decision to schedule PSL 2025 from April 8 to May 19, right in the middle of the IPL, because of the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and UAE.
They will have to do this again next season if they do not want to have the league during the holy month of Ramadan. This will basically mean that these international stars will not be available. They are more likely to end up playing a far more lucrative IPL instead.
For this BPL season, it started on December 30, and the finale is on Friday, February 7. The BCB will not be able to give such a long window for the coming season and is set to go for a date change.
“Look, if we want good foreign cricketers to take part in BPL we cannot fight with ILT20. We need to play BPL in such a time that it is not clashing with ILT20,” BCB president Faruque Ahmed told Cricbuzz.
The Big Bash League is also traditionally played in December-January and might require adjustments towards time slots.
