CHENNAI: The build-up towards the Big Bash League opener in Chennai on December 12 is underway. Tickets have gone on sale online and Cricket Australia seem to be more than pleased with the response so far. While they look to make it one of the highest-selling games of the upcoming BBL season, CA and the league are working with all pertinent stakeholders to ensure things are moving in the right direction ahead of the Melbourne Renegades versus Perth Scorchers game on December 12.
"The anticipation for our season opening game in Chennai is certainly building. We are working closely with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and all the different parties involved in putting on cricket there at the venue, Chennai Super Kings included. We were really encouraged last week by the sales of the initial ticket allocation, which sold out pretty quickly," Alistair Dobson, General Manager of Big Bash League, said in a select media interaction on Friday.
The one-off match is a part of a week-long larger initiative involving the Indian and Australian governments called 'G’Day Namaste' to be held across India in December, featuring Australian cultural, business, and sports events. CA and BBL are looking to have not just stakeholders from Australia but also prominent people from the Indian cricket ecosystem as well. "We're expecting to see a lot of Australian government representatives, business and industry and hopefully some from India as well across the cricket government and business community. We know that cricket is such a connector between our countries but also within India and the opportunity to bring those sorts of people and groups together is a big part of what we're trying to achieve," explained Dobson.
Though it is a one-off match, CA and BBL have not ruled out hosting matches in India during upcoming seasons, in both BBL and WBBL. The first priority, at the moment, is to execute the plan to perfection and take it from there. "Getting this year's BBL game executed successfully is clearly our priority and where we're putting all our effort. We do believe in the WBBL and it is, in our view, the best cricket league for women in the world. We would be open to, in the future, the possibility of bringing a WBBL game to different parts of the world.
"Right now, our seasons don't align in the context of doubleheaders and that's probably not on the cards. But certainly, we also know through the WPL how popular our women's players are in India and clearly, how good they are. So I'd never say never on that. It's not on our radar right now," said Dobson.
One of the potential issues on the radar for CA and the organisers is the weather forecast. The northeast monsoon is already upon the city and is expected to receive rainfall in December as well. Dobson, however, reiterated that BBL is leaving no stone unturned to ensure play on December 12. The match is scheduled to be played at 2.40PM IST, but organisers are keeping an open mind on extending the timing if needed. "We're really committed to getting a game played and we think there's some ways we can do that, albeit not with a reserve day given the nature of the BBL. A bit like the IPL where the show rolls on pretty quick to the next stop. We don't have scope for a reserve day but we're doing everything we can to make sure we get a game in for sure. We have a nominated finish time to the game. We're looking at whether we can extend that and how we would do that in a way that's fair and transparent to the players and predictable to our broadcasters. But the afternoon game does give us the scope to add some more length to the playing time if needed," Dobson said.