Pawar dismisses possibility of two IPLs

NEW DELHI: BCCI President Sharad Pawar shot down Lalit Modi's grand plans to have the Indian Premier League twice a year and said the crammed International Cricket Council (ICC) calendar leaves no such scope.
    
Days after Modi, the IPL Chairman and Commissioner, said that from 2011 onwards, he would like to see the IPL twice a year -- one starting in May and the other in September -- Pawar categorically dismissed such a possibility.
    
"We have just got one window from the ICC per year. The calendar is ready for next seven years, so there is no scope," Pawar said in Aaj Tak's 'Seedhi Baat' programme.
    
Earlier, in a television interview, Modi had spelled out his future plans for the Twenty20 extravaganza and said, "I think the IPL, we will like to keep it as two seasons. A single season for the first three years, we would like to move it to two seasons and we have another season in September."
    
Incidentally, star batsman and Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag too is against having two IPLs a year, for, he thinks, it may lead to premature retirements among top players.
    
"I think having it twice a year might trigger premature retirements," Sehwag recently said.
     
The Delhi opener too pointed out to the international calendar and said it would be difficult to squeeze in two IPL seasons in the schedule.
    
"I think before they think about introducing a second IPL in the same year, they would have to see the schedule. The fact remains that people at large crave more for international cricket than IPL -- be it India vs Pakistan or England vs Australia", he said.