IPL chair Dhumal: Saudi want to invest in cricket - but we've had no proposals

Arun Dhumal, the IPL chairman, expects Saudi Arabia to step up investment in its cricketing infrastructure but has insisted that the league has not received any concrete proposals about a 'Grand Slam' T20 circuit or direct investment into the IPL.

The Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF) has gradually grown ties with the IPL over the past three years. State-backed Saudi ventures including Aramco, Visit Saudi and Neom have signed sponsorship deals with either the IPL itself or its franchises, and the BCCI chose to stage November's mega-auction in Jeddah, the country's second-largest city.

The World Cricketers' Association (WCA) are understood to be involved in talks regarding the creation of a global circuit of T20 tournaments, a concept which reportedly has backing from SURJ, the sports subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). Other reports have previously linked PIF with a multi-billion-dollar direct investment into the IPL.

Dhumal, also the ex-BCCI treasurer, told ESPNcricinfo that he is yet to receive any concrete information around any Saudi plans to disrupt world cricket. "It can't be 'yes' or 'no' because there is no proposal to be discussed; it is just media speculation," Dhumal said. "There's nothing that we can do about media speculating."

While the SACF plans to build an international-standard stadium in Jeddah, there is minimal cricketing infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Dhumal said that the idea behind staging the mega-auction there was to encourage the Saudi regime to invest in cricket, and claimed that it reflected the BCCI's commitment to growing the sport worldwide.

"Saudi Cricket as such is part of ICC," Dhumal said. "They're wanting to make some investments in cricket so that cricket becomes more relevant in that part of the world, given the diaspora from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh… There's a lot of aspirations and demands from those guys that more cricketing activity should happen there.

"There has been a lot of speculation as to any talk between IPL and BCCI and Saudi Cricket with regard to their interest in IPL. I would want to categorically deny any of that. The idea was to give them a flavour of what IPL is all about. When you see the kind of numbers that happened there with regard to this mega-auction, everybody was startled as to how big this game is.

"So it'll give the confidence for the government there to invest more in the cricket infrastructure so that the players out there get more opportunity. We've seen how cricket has grown in UAE over the last few years with the kind of infrastructure they have created. They have started their own league. [Saudi Arabia] will have to create some infrastructure.

"Our duty as the BCCI is to go to all these different places and give them the flavour of the sport… Going forward, in case cricket has to grow through the length and breadth of the whole globe, it is paramount that we take it to different landscapes, different territories and showcase what this game is all about. That was the intent."

Dhumal suggested that he was open to the idea of the IPL staging some exhibition matches overseas, but that the idea has not been actively discussed. "If that makes sense, for the purpose of growing cricket and giving them the flavour of the IPL, it can be thought of," he said. "But [there is] no discussion as of now."

He is also open-minded about the possible return of the Champions League T20, which has been defunct since 2014. "It was done before the opportune time for that kind of event," Dhumal said. "I would not say no to anything but everything depends on whether we have an availability of time… If it creates value for cricket at a global stage, definitely we can look at that."

Eight of the ten IPL franchises have interests in overseas leagues, with four owners in the process of finalising their investment in teams in the Hundred in England and Wales. Dhumal said that the IPL's leadership is supportive of its franchises' growth, but does not expect it to prompt a change in the BCCI's policy on Indian men's players playing in overseas leagues.

"We are very happy with the contributions that our franchises, enterprises and companies have done to grow this game across the globe," he said. "India being in this leadership position and cricket being a religion for Indians, it is our paramount duty to make sure that India's contribution in terms of growing the game across the globe remains. We are very happy with that.

On the prospect of Indian players featuring in other short-form leagues, Dhumal said: "IPL being a premium tournament, that exclusivity would definitely be there… There is nothing that has been discussed so far. Going forward, in case there's scope, then before we arrive at some decision we have to take all of these considerations and then take a call on this."