‘Priority boarding for IPL’ – Sanjay Manjrekar on rise of State T20 Leagues
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted the growing relevance of State association-run T20 leagues within Indian cricket and particularly the Indian Premier League.
With several IPL teams using such leagues as a platform to scout and recruit players, Manjrekar observed such competitions as a fast-track route for prospective talents.
“Virtually every association has its own private T20 league. And it’s something that BCCI encourages as well. There are certain guidelines that these associations have to follow. The only difference is that the association still wants to control whatever happens in that league,” said Manjrekar in Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast.
“Players tend to be more interested in featuring in that league rather than playing some of the other matches. And I have no problem; I don’t brush away that at all because that’s a sign of changing times. So, basically, you have the IPL as a platform to play for Indian T20 internationals. Now, these leagues are the platform to get into the IPL. And that is why these leagues are in such [demand]. They’re just mushrooming all over. We have 16 such leagues in total in this country. That is an astonishing number. And so much talent.
“IPL is such a huge entity. It’s a world-famous league, and the amount of money that is riding on it. So it’s like a dream for any grassroots-level cricketer to reach that platform. And if there is another platform that allows you to get into the Indian Premier League, and it’s a very short route. It’s not like five or six years of grinding at the T20 level, wherever locally; it’s just turning, getting selected through these leagues. And if you have an outstanding sort of season and you’ve got something special, you get drafted straight into the IPL. So that’s a brilliant sort of fast track as we have at airports – priority check-ins, priority boarding,” added Manjrekar.
The cricketer-turned broadcaster also expressed caution, noting that players sometimes struggle to meet expectations as they progress from local leagues to the IPL.
“I think it’s a fact of life. If you get something that’s very easy, it can slip away as well, very easily. So what happens, the route is very short. It’s just that a couple of years of playing in the leagues and you have a great season, you get picked up by an IPL franchise.
“And then if you’re a batter, it’s such a high-risk concept. A batter has to go in and try to hit every ball for a six. And he can have one great season and the next season, he might struggle for runs. And that happens even to the big names. Look at Suryakumar Yadav and a lot of the big names. Sanju Samson has had some very quiet and tough IPL years.
“So the concept is such that it will always make it extremely difficult to be consistent because it’s a high-risk approach with bowling as well. But a lot of them would have issues of handling, you know, how to handle failure, success, because that is bound to happen. It’s impossible for you to have three consecutive years of brilliant batting or bowling.
“So when that quiet year or the tough year, when the reality hits you, how do you handle it? And the IPL owners will give you crores of money. They’re not going to be saying, you know, we’ll wait for another three, four years. You know, this guy has got talent, which can do at the Ranji Trophy level because there’s not too much at stake here. There’s big money at stake. They’re not going to have patience with these people. So that is the harsh reality that comes to you very easily. You know, the big pot of gold. It can go away easily as well,” said Manjrekar.
Published on May 10, 2026
