Ex-ICL men eye IPL pie; icon players on the way out

The final of the 45-day T20 league will be held on April 25, IPL chairman Lalit Modi announced after a meeting of its Governing Council here on Tuesday.

IPL III will have four additional venues -- Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Dharamsala. “The playing window remains the same 45 days,” Modi said, adding that the Governing Council also decided to include two more franchisees in IPL IV in 2011.

“There would be 94 games in 2011 with each franchisee playing 18, instead of 14 preliminary phase games. But the window would remain more or less the same,” Modi said.

The four additional venues in IPL III would host matches featuring Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, Modi said.

Modi also said the IPL decided to allow players who have switched allegiance from the Indian Cricket League to the Board of Control for Cricket in India by taking advantage of the latter’s amnesty scheme, provided the BCCI Working Committee approves this move in its meeting here on August 13.

“Provided the BCCI Working Committee approves this, the salary cap for players who have returned from the rebel league has been fixed between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, except those who have played internationals who would have to be auctioned off,” he said.

The salary cap for each franchise also remains at $7 million, as also as the number of foreign players (10 in all and four in a playing XI), Modi said.

He said the new trading window would be open from December 15, 2009 to January 5, 2010 and all other conditions would remain the same as last year.

Modi said the strategic time-out in IPL II and which received mixed response has been reduced from 10 minutes to five. “The time-outs are mandatory with the bowling team mandated to utilise the first time-out lasting 2.5 minutes between overs 6 and 10 and the batting team the second between overs 11 and 16,” the IPL chairman said.

Modi made it clear that players contracted to their country’s boards for one year cannot refuse to sign the contract when offered to them the next year in order to play in the IPL.

“A contracted player in the previous year will have to get an NOC from his home board to appear in the IPL. We want to plug this loophole and to maintain the sanctity of international cricket,” Modi said.

From IPL IV, Modi said, the icon player status enjoyed by some players would not be in existence.