MUMBAI, 30 May 2008 — In a couple of days, the curtain will come down on cricket’s biggest “small” extravaganza, the Indian Premier League, and, as several foreign participants have opined, the game will never be the same again.

The cash-rich Twenty20 tournament, which brought leading players of the world on one stage, has already been a runaway success.

While it is too early to calculate what the franchisees will reap, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is already richer by Rs. 4,000 crores.

But there might be just a little greed attached to it. Lalit Modi, whose brainchild this Americanized promotion of cricket is, is now toying with the idea of having the event not once but twice a year from 2011.

If this ambition is further pursued then world cricket will indeed not be the same again. First, it will upset worldwide bilateral schedules. As it is, players from England could not play this time because of a clash with their domestic season. Then, players from Australia, the West Indies and New Zealand had to leave the IPL midway to honor their countries’ Test commitments.

Consequently, the fortunes of the early leaders like Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royals changed drastically and both failed to qualify for the semifinals.

There is no denying the fact, however, that the lucrative IPL playing contracts, which are going to get even fatter, will always dangle like juicy carrots before the international players. As India’s dashing batsman Virendra Sehwag says, the situation may lead to early retirement of some of the leading players, in order to sign for IPL.

The England player of Indian origin, Ravi Baporia, has said that if he is not selected for Tests or One dayers this season, he might opt for the IPL. There are several others who think that way.

The reason is that if they sign for IPL, they will get more than thrice the amount they will make for playing for their country. They would rather pick this easy money than sit on the sidelines, hoping to be selected for their national side.

But not everybody thinks that way. The likes of Ricky Ponting maintain that national duty comes above everything else, however lucrative the offer.