The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : All set for IPL auction

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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008
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Sport - Cricket

All set for IPL auction

Special Correspondent

Mumbai: The decks have been cleared for the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 league auction here on Wednesday with the BCCI’s 30 odd contracted players including the five iconic players Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni accepting in principle the contract offered to them. BCCI sources confirmed that though Australia’s tour of Pakistan has not been officially called off because of security fears, the top Australian players have signed the contract.

According to a reliable source, a top BCCI functionary spoke to the senior Indian players in India and Australia and amicably resolved all doubts and differences and obtained their consent. The BCCI is yet to receive the signed documents, which it hopes will arrive by Tuesday evening.

The franchise bid document had stated that Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj and Dhoni would be the iconic players and their price has been fixed at $400,000. V.V.S. Laxman and Virender Sehwag will get the same status in the event of there being a unanimity among the eight franchise owners before the auction starts on Wednesday. Tendulkar would play for the Mumbai region, Dravid for Bangalore, Ganguly for Kolkata and Yuvraj for Mohali. It’s speculated that Dhoni may represent the Jaipur region.

The iconic players will receive more in the event of their franchise team owners winning the auction of overseas players at a price exceeding $400,000. “Suppose the price for an overseas player in the Mumbai region is settled at a high of $450,000, then Sachin Tendulkar will receive, 15 per cent more than this sum. This can vary for different regions which has an iconic player,” said a BCCI official.

IPL sources also said that the Ranji Trophy players who find their way into the eight teams will receive a fixed sum of $50,000, while the under-21 players, who have not played any first class match will receive a fixed sum of $20,000. It’s mandatory of the owners to choose four under-21 players in their 16-member squad.

The eight franchise owners are Reliance Industries (Mumbai), GMR Holdings (Delhi), UB Group (Bangalore), Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad), India Cements (Chennai), Red Chillies Entertainment (Kolkata), consortium comprising Priety Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Mohit Burman (Mohali) and Emerging Media (Jaipur).

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