The Indian cricket board is going ahead with the mini-IPL in the time window they got after Champions League T20 was scrapped from the calendar.

Calling it the ‘mini-IPL’ or ‘IPL overseas’, BCCI president Anurag Thakur, after the board’s working committee meet, said the final dates and format would be announced in due course.

Thakur added that - 

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The BCCI has decided to host a truncated IPL every September starting from this year.Space can be created on the cricket calendar because the T20 Champions League has been scrapped. We are proposing that all eight teams participate in the mini-IPL. The venue has not been finalised but the US is one of the options.

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The idea was mooted during a meet of the council in Dharmasala on Thursday.

With regards to the venue, nothing has been decided as of now, however, UAE is one of the viable options along with the US.

The board had initially floated the idea of hosting a mini-IPL last September in the UAE, which has a sizeable Indian diaspora.

At the time, the plan was to have only the top four teams playing in a league format leading to a knockout.However, that proposed league never materialised.

The teams have already been made aware of this decision by the BCCI and even they seem to be keen on this mini IPL.

The teams are happy because not only will this give them an opportunity to expand their fan base but also give a chance to increase the popularity of the league in other parts of the world.