|| India Correspondent ||

Former India player Rahul Dravid believes that the cash-rich T20 league - Indian Premier League (IPL) is "ready for expansion" in terms of number of teams as plenty of talented players available in the country. His comments came after the reports suggested that 2021 IPL will be featuring nine teams instead of eight and this was the plan of the BCCI since long.

Rahul Dravid, the director of National Cricket Academy (NCA), was backed by Rajasthan Royals co-owner Manoj Badale, who also believed that a nine-team IPL is possible in the next season which is months away from now on.
"I feel IPL is ready for expansion in terms of talent if you look from talent perspective. There are a lot of talented players who are not getting an opportunity to play," he said.

However, Dravid believed that with the increasing number of teams, talents will also be increased and there will be quality too as the competition will be tough as well. Dravid also explained how Mumbai Indians have won record-five IPL titles in 13 editions so far.

"They (MI) have a strong core with a high quality. Their core is built with world-class T20 players and balanced it with young exciting talent. They have a very strong scouting structure in place," Dravid said.

"Earlier, you only depended on your state association to select you for Ranji Trophy. Now, from a state like Haryana which produces so many quality spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal, Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav, Tewatia would have had limited opportunities. So it's no longer limited to state associations," said Dravid.