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In December, India will see something it never has before: Big Bash League cricket on its own soil. The Australiana league will open its 2026–2027 season in Chennai, making it the first foreign franchise league to play in the country.
It’s just one of the many signals that India is pulling cricket away from the traditional old guard and becoming its new leading powerhouse.
The genteel sport of cricket—the second most-popular game in the world behind soccer—has been historically dominated by two countries. First, there is England, its birthplace; next, Australia, one of the game’s earliest adopters, which has won more international honors than any other country, including six ODI World Cups.
But India’s U.S.-style cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, has quickly caught up.
The IPL has evolved into the most popular, most commercially dominant tournament in world cricket. In late July, a report from global investment bank Houlihan Lokey valued the IPL business at $20.6 billion, up 11.4% year-over-year, and second only to the NFL in per-match brand value. Since its launch in 2008, the IPL has also generated billions of dollars in private investment—including from Aditya Birla Group, a multinational Indian conglomerate backed by Blackstone.
The huge infusion of cash has turned India into the world’s most lucrative and attractive cricket market.
The best players now ply their trade on the IPL circuit, which can offer bigger opportunities to earn than other international cricket tournaments. Earlier this year, Jofra Archer, one of England’s most established players, was absent from his country’s side to take on New Zealand because he was tied up in the IPL playoffs with the Rajasthan Royals. England’s captain at the time defended Archer’s absence, acknowledging that “the landscape of cricket has changed.”
India’s ascent has put obvious dollar signs in the eyes of other leagues and investors.
Along with the BBL season opening in India, Cricket Australia’s CEO Todd Greenberg said in late July that staging an Ashes Test match there was also “open for consideration.” The Ashes is a five-match series between England and Australia—the oldest and most prestigious fixture in international cricket. Greenberg said that Australia’s relationship with England and India is “very strong, and clearly there are opportunities in India to put more content in certain areas.”
Another staggering development is that club franchises are weighing whether to sell stakes to private Indian investors—something England did in 2025 with its marquee franchise tournament, The Hundred. Among the buyers were India’s Sun TV Network, and RPSG Sports Ventures, part of RPSG Group, which owns IPL side Lucknow Super Giants. The sales injected more than $670 million (£500 million) into English cricket, and resulted in significant rebranding of team names and uniforms. The Oval Invincibles, for example, were renamed MI London following investment from the owners of IPL side Mumbai Indians.
“If there is a sale of BBL franchise stakes in the future, you will definitely see some interest from IPL owners. We saw the caliber of investors that wanted to invest in The Hundred last year,” Harsh Talikoti, director in Houlihan Lokey’s financial and valuation advisory business, tells Front Office Sports.
These remarkable steps are akin to if the NFL sold stakes in teams to a foreign conglomerate and hosted a Super Bowl abroad.
“I don’t think there is an equivalent in any other sport,” Talikoti says. “A lot of these IPL owners now have nearly two decades of experience running and managing teams, as well as generating a quality experience for their fans. If a league can bring in private investors, they can bring in new ideas, and this can only help improve the product.”
India’s insatiable desire for cricket and the opportunities it creates are seemingly limitless.
“When you talk about Indian cricket, you obviously have fans in India, but you have to consider the Indian diaspora spread across the globe. This is one of the reasons every other country wants India to visit,” Talikoti says. “It brings in the largest crowds and generates the most opportunity for ticket revenue and sponsorship deals.”
A standout example of this came on Boxing Day in 2024, when a touring Indian side helped smash the all-time attendance record for a Test match in Australia. A total of 373,691 fans toppled the previous record of 350,534, set during a match between England and Australia in 1937. “I think what’s been particularly special about this series is the number of India fans, from not just India but all around the world,” said former Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley.
In stark contrast, the ECB has forecast a “significant loss” next year due to the fact England will not be hosting a touring Indian side.
Cricket’s two oldest rivals are now feeling the weight of India’s dominance more so than ever before, surrendering pieces of their own leagues to India, and chasing a level of commercial success that, to date, only Indian cricket can provide.
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