In June, the BCCI had revealed their idea of conducting a mini IPL overseas in September, with the main options being the UAE or the USA, which were discussed at the IPL governing council and working committee meetings earlier this year. However, there was no confirmation as it was subject to approvals from franchises and broadcasters.
The idea of the tournament was to fill the empty window in which India weren't partaking in any international cricket after their tour of West Indies until the New Zealand home series scheduled to begin on September 22.
Thakur said he foresaw the time difference between there and India as a key obstacle given that games would have to begin at 10am on the east coast in order to be viewed in India, which would fail to draw in large crowds for games held mid-week. That in turn, would also limit their options of experimenting with venues across the large country.
"I think we must understand the time difference," Thakur was quoted as telling ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday (August 31). "IPL is seen in India from 7 o'clock to 11 or 11.30 at night. So you have to play somewhere in the east coast here (USA) so [that] the timing matches. If we have to play in the day here, the matches should be seen in India at night because broadcasting is a big thing. So you can't make your home fan lose [by] playing outside India. So which are the provinces you can play in United States? That's a big task.
"IPL, we are not even thinking of hosting it outside India. It has to be hosted in India, but there are many other options what you can do which we'll let you know over a period of time when we come out with a long-term plan for this market," he added.
The BCCI, however, reaffirmed their intent of consolidating on the US market with an annual T20I series in the country. "We need to come, I can't say many times a year, but yes on annual basis we have to be here if we really want to develop a market and want locals to play and participate, not only to watch cricket," he said. "We have to play a much much bigger role and India is up and ready to play that big role. BCCI is here to deliver and will make it a big success.
"I think there needs to be more focus in countries like US, Canada and others where we have a lot of population who is from Asia who understands cricket, could be more involved and can get more locals involved. So we are not here just to play a couple of games.
"We will come out with a long-term plan after this success, how to make it work in US, how to have more and more local people playing the game of cricket. If they can play in early 18th century, what made cricket go out of America? We have to bring it back. No other country than India can do that," he added.
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