BBL boss confident of sell-out crowd at Chepauk

CHENNAI: Ahead of the marquee opening clash between Melbourne Renegades and Perth Scorchers at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on December 12, to kick off Big Bash League 16, the head of the league, Alistair Dobson, was confident of a sell-out crowd in Chennai.

Dobson also revealed that BBL’s success with initial ticket sales in India has reinforced that the Australian league is amongst the top leagues globally. "We believe the BBL is in the top couple of leagues globally and certainly part of the objective here is reinforcing that,” Dobson said.

“There's no better place to do that than in India amongst the most passionate T20 fans and cricket fans in the world. I think the response... We know the BBL is already really popular in India.”

With the first match set to take place on December 12, it collides with the usual monsoon period in the city. However, Dobson played down a ‘reserve day’ and insisted they are working through playing conditions to allow for a full game.

"We've certainly taken lots of advice from the locals and are really optimistic that we'll be in good shape, but clearly you can't predict the weather," Dobson said. "We won't have a reserve day. We are working through some playing conditions that might allow us to extend the playing time if required.”

BBL 16 will also feature former England skipper Ben Stokes as one of the marquee players, and the league hopes that such big names will outnumber its days as just an ‘Australian league’.

“The days of the BBL just being an Australian league where we exist and grow in our own backyard are over, and the BBL continues to grow as a global league that has fans and impact around the world.”