IPL is ripe for expansion to nine teams in near future, feels former Indian captain Rahul Dravid

Dravid, who currently heads the National Cricket Academy, helped mentor a clutch of this year's IPL debutants - including Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kartik Tyagi, and Kings XI Punjab's Ravi Bishnoi - when he oversaw India's run to the final of the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year.

“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.” Dravid said that if there are more teams, all the talented players could be fitted in and there won’t be a drop in quality.

"Purely from a talent perspective, I think we're ready for IPL expansion," Dravid said during the virtual launch of Rajasthan Royals co-owner Manoj Badale's book ‘A New Innings’, which he co-authored with former English cricketer Simon Hughes.

"Citing example of sustained success of Mumbai Indians, whose unrivalled blend of youth and experience has propelled them to five IPL titles in the past eight seasons. What they've done really well over the last four or five years is to maintain a strong core of really high-quality players and mix that up with some really good young talents," Dravid said.