IPL chairman Arun Dhumal interview: Leagues over bilaterals, real life over reels

The mountains do not care about the IPL. They sit behind the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala the way they always have, enormous, indifferent, white-tipped, while below them ten franchises and their billions of dollars and their social media controversies play out across two months of Indian summer. It is a good place, then, to find some perspective.

Arun Singh Dhumal is in his office at the stadium, and he is in no hurry. He leans back, he smiles often, he pauses before answering in the way that people do when they have actually thought about something rather than just rehearsed a line. He is the chairman of the Indian Premier League, the second most valuable sports league in the world, a tournament whose two franchise sales in a single March week, Royal Challengers Bengaluru at $1.78 billion and Rajasthan Royals at $1.63 billion, made front pages well beyond the sports desk. He is also the younger brother of Anurag Thakur, the former BCCI president and Union Cabinet minister, and the son of Prem Kumar Dhumal, twice Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. Cricket and politics and administration are, for him, not separate worlds. They are simply the air he has breathed since boyhood.

He grew up in Jalandhar, at a school that produced half the Punjab Ranji Trophy team. His cousins played Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy cricket. His brother Anurag played India Under-15 and Under-19. Arun captained the cricket team at his engineering college and played for his university. The love for the game was never in doubt. The path into administration came later, circuitously, as these things often do, through eligibility rules and Supreme Court orders and the particular accidents of timing that shape careers. He became HPCA president, then resigned within 10 days to contest the BCCI treasurer’s election in 2019, which he won. He grew the BCCI treasury by Rs 6,000 crore between 2019 and 2022. When the IPL chairmanship came up, it was first offered to Sourav Ganguly, who declined. Dhumal stepped in. He has not looked back.

He is sitting in a stadium that his brother imagined and built from a Himalayan rockface, in a town that barely had a hotel of 30 rooms before cricket arrived and now has the Hyatt, the Radisson, the Taj.

The scenic HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala (India Today Photo)

Punjab Kings play some of their home games here. This week, they are at the centre of the IPL’s biggest off-field storm of the season.

‘EVERY BALL AN EVENT’

The conversation begins not with the storm but with the foundation. Asked what, according to him, is the IPL’s biggest success, Dhumal does not mention money. He does not mention valuations.

“The quality of games,” he says.

“I would say the quality of games is the biggest success, and that is what has given traction to this tournament.”

He explains why. “If you see any other tournament or event, you will have some amazing teams and a few weak teams. Here, until the very last moment, you cannot make out which four teams will make the playoffs. That has consistently happened through all 19 editions. Every game is competitive till the last ball. You cannot make out who is going to win.”

And then he says something that gets to the heart of why T20 cricket has done what no format before could quite manage.

“The best thing about T20 cricket is that every ball is an event. You are looking forward to whether Bumrah will take a wicket or somebody like Suryakumar Yadav will hit the first ball for six. That is what keeps the traction with the game. Every ball becomes so competitive and interesting that fans see it as great entertainment.”

Fan engagement, it is suggested, matters as much as money?

“Yes, because after the IPL, the fan base has increased among youngsters, youth and women. That has added value to the sport. That is also why you see the kind of traction the Women’s Premier League has got, because women and youngsters got attracted to the game. From March till May, the only thing the whole country talks about is IPL.”

He is not wrong. The 2026 IPL opening weekend recorded over 515 million viewers and 32.6 billion minutes of watch time. JioHotstar crossed 70 million concurrent users in a single sitting. Despite a mid-season dip, the numbers are only growing over the years.

He traces the IPL’s hold on public imagination back to a single tournament.

“Initially, the BCCI itself was not too excited about T20 cricket. I would give credit to MS Dhoni and company for winning the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. That changed the impression among board members about how this format could create a new fan base for the game.”

‘SOCIAL MEDIA MOST ANTI-SOCIAL’

Punjab Kings pacer Arshdeep SIngh has been caught in a social media storm (PTI Photo)

Then comes the storm. The 2026 season has been the noisiest off the field in recent memory, keeping the administrators busy.

Mid-tournament, the BCCI issued sweeping new disciplinary guidelines, an almost unprecedented step, after what sources described as multiple uncomfortable incidents: unauthorised individuals in player hotel rooms, franchise owners in restricted operational zones, phones inside dugouts, and what the board’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit reportedly flagged as vulnerabilities around honey-trapping.

Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag was fined for vaping inside the dressing room. A few players and even coaches have been docked a percent of their match fee for audible obscenity.

And then there was Punjab Kings, whose star pacer Arshdeep Singh found himself in the middle of a Snapchat controversy, questions about his vlogging, and a franchise statement, slamming unverified rumours about a rift in the dressing room, Prabhsimran Singh’s fitness, among other speculation.

Has the Governing Council thought about controlling what players do on social media?

Dhumal pauses.

“Most of the things that happen on social media, one cannot always be sure about the authenticity or how true they are. But whatever we need to do in terms of keeping the integrity of the game intact, we do our level best. There is much more that comes into the media than what actually is, so you have to take it with a pinch of salt.”

On the mid-season directives, he frames them as reinforcement rather than emergency response.

“That is a regular directive that has been there for sure, but given those small scenes that took place, we thought we can reinforce those. I’m very confident that franchises know their responsibilities very clearly and they adhere to that because it is not that the BCCI would only get affected if the tournament gets affected, it would affect everyone.

“All of them are very responsible and they know that for sure. So it’s always a collective effort of BCCI and all the franchises wherein we make sure that the integrity of the game is respected and the quality of games is maintained.”

And then he says something that has nothing to do with the IPL and everything to do with it.

“Social media, I would say, is the most anti-social thing,” he says, with a smile.

“So I’m personally not in favour of social media. I do believe there has to be a lot of socialisation as players and as individuals, but unfortunately, I deem it as the most anti-social thing.”

Will that philosophy become policy?

“No, people would eventually understand. People get the fancy of this thing for some time, but eventually you understand that it is the real human values and human relationships that matter. And more in terms of the kind of technological intervention that we are having, the core human values would be the most premium.”

A BIGGER IPL WINDOW?

Virat Kohli drew huge crowds to Dharamslaa (PTI Photo)

From the noise of the present, the conversation moves to the architecture of the future. The IPL currently runs 74 matches across roughly 60 to 65 days. Dhumal wants 94 games from the next media rights cycle, a full double round-robin giving every team nine home and nine away games, something the current structure makes impossible.

“Ideally, we would want it because that would give an opportunity for all the teams to have nine home and nine away games. And we are hopeful that in case we get a bigger window in the next media cycle, given the bilateral commitments and ICC commitments that we have, if we get a bigger window, we would be very happy to increase the number of games to 94.”

The obstacle is the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, locked until 2027. Adding 20 more matches without a longer window means more double-headers, which broadcasters resist. Dhumal does not deflect from this.

“That is why we need a bigger window. In a smaller window, if you go from 74 to 94 games, you will have more double-headers, but that doesn’t add value to the broadcasters. We have to see the interests of the broadcasters. That is why, for fewer double-headers and to have 94 games, we need a bigger window.”

Could the season be split, part in September-October, part from February to April?

“It will depend on how it can be worked out in the next bilateral cycle. We need to sit with the concerned boards and work it out. If we can find some window during September-October, part of it can go there. If we find some window maybe from February to April, that would also be good.

“The reason being, with the change in weather, it becomes very difficult to conduct games in that heat and humid environment. It would eventually lead to a lot of injuries. So given the change in weather also, we need to see how we can plan it in a way so that the weather is conducive to conducting this tournament.”

‘CRICKET HAS TO GO SOCCER WAY’

More and more overseas players are finding value in the IPL, says Arun Dhumal (PTI Photo of Pat Cummins)

Won’t other boards resist, given the pressure a bigger IPL window puts on bilateral revenues?

“No, it will not eat into their revenue. They are also benefiting from it. Ultimately, we have to see the benefit of the players. Every player is finding more value in IPL or any league vis–vis bilateral cricket. So we have to see what adds more value to the respective board or a player ultimately. If the traction with bilateral cricket is going down and the other boards are not able to monetise more in terms of bilaterals, there may be another way of doing it.”

He leans forward. “That is why I say, if cricket has to go the soccer way, it is not my wish as an administrator of the BCCI or some other board. It is the fan who drives the game. So ultimately, it is the fan who is going to decide whether he is more excited about all these leagues, be it IPL, Big Bash, The Hundred, ILT20 or SA20. If they find more value there, obviously the broadcaster is the one funding the game. So they would also eventually come to the boards and say, ‘Let us have more league games, lesser bilateral games, and a few ICC events.'”

Is cricket already going the football way?

He does not hesitate. “Yes, it’s already going there.”

And then something personal, a line that suggests this is not a conclusion he has reached without some internal negotiation.

“I see that as the way forward because I myself loved watching an India-England Test match more than any T20 or ODI game, but I’m not the one who’s going to decide it. You have to see the interests of the fans. In case they are driving it that way, so be it. We have to prepare ourselves for that. We can’t make sure that it goes that way and we can’t stop it either. If it has to happen, it is better we start preparing for that.”

The franchise sales of March 2026, RCB and Rajasthan Royals both changing hands in the same week at record valuations, have raised a question that grows harder to ignore: as franchises accumulate this kind of financial power, does the balance in Indian cricket shift? Do owners begin to hold sway over players in ways that are unhealthy for the sport?

Dhumal is unequivocal.

“See, the honour that you get from wearing the India cap is much bigger than any amount that you can get from any tournament. When you lift that ICC trophy as part of Team India, the kind of recognition, love and honour that you would get as a player is much beyond anything that money can offer.

“So I know for sure that all these players want to be part of an ICC-winning team, be it the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup or Test Championship, and they put their blood and sweat into being part of that team. Eventually, since they are sportsmen and they work so hard, they would need a good lifestyle and they would want to earn money. But they know how to balance it out. And as BCCI, we understand our responsibility and we also keep guiding them about what the honour of representing the country means.”

Will IMPACT PLAYER RULE GO?

The Impact Player rule has had a noisy season. Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and several other senior voices have questioned whether it skews the game too heavily in favour of batters and diminishes the value of the genuine all-rounder. Some franchises are said to have raised concerns privately too.

Dhumal has clearly heard all of it.

“Had there been no impact, there would have been no chatter about it,” he says, with the timing of someone who enjoys watching that line land.

“I personally believe that it brings a lot of value to the game in terms of giving a chance to one more specialist batsman or one more specialist bowler. And you need to raise your bar as a specialist batsman, bowler and all-rounder. So I think it adds a lot of value.”

Will it be reviewed?

“We are open to reviewing everything in the interest of the game. So we will review it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to take it out. Whatever initiatives have been taken so far in IPL have eventually been taken up by other leagues and, at times, by the ICC also. So if it is making the game more interesting, so be it.”

‘WE WANT TO BE NO. 1’

Near the end, the question turns to the next decade. There is talk, still speculative, of other leagues wanting to play opening matches on Indian soil, of the IPL eventually taking games to England or Australia, of a league that no longer observes national borders the way cricket always has.

Dhumal does not reach for the grandiose. He simply states the objective.

“I can’t predict what is going to happen in the future, but for sure, our endeavour has always been to make it the No. 1 sports league across the globe. As of now, we are No. 2, and going forward we are working very hard to make sure that it becomes the No. 1 sports league in the world.”

He says it plainly, without chest-thumping. No. 2 in the world. Working to be No. 1. Outside, the mountains remain unmoved.

Earlier in the conversation, he said something about the fan being the one who ultimately decides where cricket goes, that administrators are neither the engine nor the brake but something more like a navigator, trying to read the road ahead. It is either a very humble thing to say or a very shrewd one. Sitting in his office above the most beautiful cricket ground in the world, Arun Singh Dhumal seems content to let you decide which.

– Ends

Published By:

Akshay Ramesh

Published On:

May 18, 2026 07:30 IST