About BBL
BBL or Big Bash League is one of the tops and famous domestic cricket leagues played in T20 formats. It was created and managed by Cricket Australia, the official cricket management authority in Australia. Big Bash League is famous in Australia in the same way IPL or Indian Premier League is famous in India. However, cricket lovers and especially T20 format cricket lovers watch this professional T20 cricket league all over the world. This cricket league also has a placement in ICC’s future tours programme. Which means that ICC’s all tournaments are planned as coordination with the schedule of Big Bash League. This tournament is played in Australia and most of the participating cricketers are Australians, but players from all over the world participate in this cricket tournament. It is famous all over the world and also it is among the top ten domestic cricket tournaments according to audience attendance. The participating teams of this tournament are named after the various metropolitan cities of Australia.
Foundation, Format & Teams
Cricket Australia didn’t create this tournament originally. Rather than the original creation of the Big Bash Tournament, it was a modified version of KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. In 2011 Cricket Australia renamed it as Big Bash League (BBL) and made some changes to its format, sponsorships, revenue model, etc. But the tournament is still under the sponsorship of world-famous fast-food franchise Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). The last tournament played under the old banner KFC T20 Big Bash in 2009/2010. After that, it was named as Big Bash League and it gained huge popularity and success after this change. The overall format of this tournament is T20 and the other terms and rules of qualification are followed by the Double Round-Robin and Knockout Finals system. Totally eight teams participate in this tournament and all of them are franchise teams sold by the management to private merchandise. All of these teams represent eight different cities in Australia. Before it’s reformed, there were only six teams in KFC Twenty20 Big Bash and all of those six teams used to represent six states of Australia.
Sponsors
As we have mentioned that there is only one major sponsor for this tournament. Kentucky Fried Chicken, an American fast-food chicken restaurant chain is the initial and current sponsor for this tournament. They won the major title sponsorship on the very first day of this tournament. However, there are some other sponsors of this tournament also. Rebel, which is Australia’s number one sports equipment company, was also a title sponsor for this tournament. Other than this, companies like Weet-Bix, Toyota, Dream11, BKT Tires, Commonwealth Bank, etc. were also associate sponsors in Big Bash League. Majestic Apparel and ‘47 are the apparel sponsors for the BBL.
Prize Pool & Revenue
Big Bash also rewards a handsome amount of money to the winners, runner up teams and participating teams in every season. A total of $890,000 was the prize pool of BBL in the last season. In this amount, $450,000 is awarded to the winning team of the season. $260,000 is awarded to the runner up team of the tournament. $80,000 is awarded to the semi-finalists of the tournament. $20,000 is awarded as prize money to the team which stays at the position number five in the tournament. If we talk about the salary cap of the cricketers in this tournament then it is around $1.6 million as per the data provided during the sixth season of this tournament.
Top Teams & Players
If we talk about the most successful team of this tournament then it is Perth Scorchers. This team won the championship title for the three-time. Chris Lynn is the top batsman of this tournament scoring 2758 runs. Ben Laughlin is the most wicket-taking bowler of the tournament with 110 wickets in hand.
Venues & Broadcasting
All of the matches are played in Australia’s international cricket stadiums. The matches are held from December to February. This period is almost summer in Australia. The broadcasting rights are given to the Fox Cricket, Seven Network, etc. Seven Network is responsible for the free-to-air broadcasting in Australia. While Fox Cricket is responsible for the paid subscription TV broadcasting. Broadcasting rights are also distributed to international and other domestic broadcasters for other countries.
Winners
In the recent season of this tournament, Sydney Sixers won the final match and defeated Melbourne Stars by 19 runs. In the 2018/2019 season, Melbourne Renegades won the title after defeating Melbourne Stars in the final match.
Controversies
Other than some umpire decision disputes there are not so big controversies related to Big Bash League. Many times former players, current players and even audience or team followers raged out on umpire decisions.
