From the IPL season IV, 2011 onwards, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would fully manage the tripartite player contract signed by the franchise, player and the BCCI.
“Until the 2010 season, the player contract was signed only between the player and franchise. We have decided to revamp the IPL and the decision to manage the player contract is a significant move.
A new player registration and contract management process will be detailed soon and circulated to the franchisees.
No player contracts can be signed until then,” said a BCCI official who attended the IPL Governing Council meeting at a suburban hotel on Sunday.
Schedule drawn
As expected, the GC, with significant contributions from the technical committee members Sunil Gavaskar, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Ravi Shastri, drew a 74-match schedule for IPL season IV, V and VI.
Each of the ten franchises will get to play seven home and away matches before the play-off matches to determine the format. The high profile Twenty20 competition will follow the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and is likely to be played over 52 days. The GC also set a $9 million salary cap for seasons IV and V.
A BCCI press release said that the IPL season IV will have 70 league matches, plus four play-off matches, with each team having the same number of matches (7 home and 7 away matches) as in the previous IPL editions. There will be one league table with teams divided into two groups of five teams each.
The format is as follows: A team in a particular group will play the other four teams twice on a home and away basis; play four of the five teams in the other group once (home or away) and one of the five teams in the other group twice at home and away.
A random draw will determine the two groups, home or away matches (four teams from the other group) and the home and away against one team from the other group.
A four-match play-off series has been created to reward consistency of performance in the league stage, which will replace the existent system of semifinals, loser's final and final.
fter 70 league matches, the first and second placed teams (game A) and the third and fourth placed teams (Game B) will feature in the first two play-off matches.
This will be followed by Game C that will feature the winner of Game B and loser of Game A and Game D (final) that will feature the winner of Game A and winner of Game C.
New regulations
With regard to player regulations the GC decided that a team can pick a maximum of tenoverseas players in a squad of 30, but cannot field more than four in a match.
Player contracts will be for a period of two years plus a one year right of extension by franchise. All players in the squad will have a salary cap.
The uncapped Indian players will have a fixed salary in three categories: They are: Rs. 10 lakh per annum if the player has not played or played his first Ranji Trophy (first class or List A) in the 2009/10 or 2010/11 seasons; Rs. 20 lakh per annum if the player figured in Ranji Trophy (first class or List A) in the 2006/7, 2007/8 or 2008/9 seasons; Rs. 30 lakh per annum if the player played the Ranji Trophy (first class or List A) in the 2005/6 or earlier seasons.
But the BCCI/GC has decided that a player should have played in 60 % of his team's matches in the Ranji Trophy (first class or List A) in order to be placed in the uncapped pool of players.
“Those in the auction pool will be international players (overseas and Indian) and also IPL players who have played more than 75% of matches for his team in the 2010 season. Siddharth Trivedi, Sourav Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu, R. Sathish and Manish Pandey are some who would be in the auction,'' said a GC member.
The auction will be held in November.
Retained players
The GC has also decided that the first eight franchises would be allowed to retain a maximum of four players (one overseas player and three Indian players) who were in their registered squad in the 2010 season.
The franchise and the player must mutually agree to be retained and to the fee for the 2011 and 2012 Seasons.
Irrespective of the actual player fee to be paid to the player, the GC has set a salary cap $1.8m per annum for the first player retained, $1.3m per annum for the second player, $ 900,000 per annum for the third player and $ 500,000 per annum for the fourth player.
If a franchise retains and signs four players, it will be charged a salary cap of $ 4.5 m each for the 2011 and 2012 seasons leaving it $ 4.5m to pay as player fees for the remainder of its registered squad.
In advance of the 2011 player auction, the two new franchises would also be allowed to sign four players who were not part of the registered squad (eg. Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, Start Broad) of any of the teams in the first three IPL editions.
However the IPL will provide a list of such players to the two new franchises. Here again the franchise and player must mutually agree to the fee for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The salary cap for the four players is the same that's set for the first eight franchises.
The revised catchments areas:Mumbai Indians: Mumbai and Baroda; Royal Challengers Bangalore: Karnataka and Goa; Deccan Chargers: Hyderabad, Andhra and Orissa; Chennai Super Kings: Tamil Nadu and Railways; Delhi Daredevils: Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand; Kings XI Punjab: Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir; Kolkata Knight Riders: Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Sikkim and Manipur; Rajasthan Royals: Rajasthan, Gujarat and Saurashtra; Team Pune: Maharashtra and Vidarbha; Team Kochi: Kerala, Services and Madhya Pradesh.
