The DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise owners are sharply divided over the $5-million cap imposed by the cricket board for buying players.
Before the players’ auction in February this year for the first edition of the 20-20 over tournament, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had informed the eight team owners that the maximum amount each team could spend on players was $5 million.
However, with the teams having the right to trade players from the upcoming season, ….

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England’s top players have given the England and Wales Cricket Board a shot across the bows after it was revealed half of them would consider quitting international cricket early to play in the Indian Premier League.With money now flowing into the sport like never before, a poll by the Professional Cricketers’ Association highlighted that 50% of current England internationals would consider premature retirement.
Within the last nine months, two rival cash-rich leagues have been set up in India, Texan billionaire Sir ….

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Sydney, June 20 (IANS) Australian captain Picky Ponting is worried by the immense popularity of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and feels that cricket administrators have to manage the rapid growth of the Twenty20 league to ensure that international cricket remains at the pinnacle of the game. “I’m not taking anything away from the IPL. It was a fantastic tournament and will only get better. I enjoyed the couple of weeks I played. But the ultimate is to represent your ….

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Fans maketh the sport, as many marketeers say. Even as people wait for the next edition of IPL, there are signs that this tournament would have to be accommodated as a permanent fixture in International Cricket Council (ICC) calendar. What makes it so compelling? Pure business logic, says Mr Dushyant Singh, Associate Director, Strategic and Commercial Intelligence, Transaction Services of KPMG India.
“The leading clubs in many sports are profitable; Arsenal and Manchester United, two of the leading clubs in European ….

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Following the announcement of England’s winter itinerary, ECB chief executive David Collier said that players would no longer be prevented from taking part in the lucrative Twenty20 league.
Centrally contracted players were banned from this year’s IPL due to international commitments.And a number of fringe players, including Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright and Sajid Mahmood all turned down offers in order to remain in county cricket.
The only English player to feature in the tournament was Hampshire captain Dimitri Mascarenhas, whose supporting role ….

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Mumbai, June 11: The cash-rich Indian Premier League has reportedly approached chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar to take up the post of Director of Cricket Operations after he completes his term on the national selection panel in September-end.
However, the former India captain refused to confirm or deny it.”I don’t want to comment on it. Kindly ignore it,” he said when asked for his reaction to a report which said he has been offered Rs one crore for the high-profile ….

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Franchises from the Indian Premier League will get first priority over players for the proposed Champions League, and any team that fields a cricketer from the unofficial Indian Cricket League will be automatically disqualified from the international Twenty20 competition, Lalit Modi, the chairman of IPL, has said.
However, Modi told Cricinfo that the Champions League was “still a long way away” and what has been agreed upon by various boards so far is “only an in-principle agreement” to host such an ….

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Colombo: Hailing the opportunity to open with Sachin Tendulkar at the recently concluded Indian Premier League as “a big achievement”, Sri Lanka’s dashing opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya has said he had “learnt a lot” from the maestro.
“I found that even after being in the game for a long time I still had a lot to learn by talking to Sachin. His cricket knowledge was amazing,” Jayasuriya said in an interview with local private radio Hiru FM.
The 38-year-old left-handed former Sri ….

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IPL franchises will be able to trade players early next year ahead of the 2009 season, Lalit Modi, Chairman of the hugely successful tournament disclosed on Sunday.
“There will be a transfer window open early next year just ahead of the 2009 season to enable franchises trade players and bring in the ones they require,” he told PTI in an interview.
Stating that he had been “overwhelmed” by the success of the Twenty20 competition, Modi also disclosed that certain innovations would be ….

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The Indian Premier League (IPL) transported a handful of players from the obscurity of domestic cricket to international fame. Even the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seems to have taken note of IPL performance in drafting Yusuf Pathan and Pragyan Ojha into the national team. However, advertisers are not convinced.
The newfound popularity of Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravinder Jadeja and Manpreet Gony, and those of Pathan and Ojha, is unlikely to earn them much endorsement money any time soon. ….

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