As the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) concluded its second round of auction, chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi, said that there could be another (last and final) round of auction. This will be decided by March 18, which is the last date for all eight franchisers to confirm their final squads. The third auction might happen if the franchiser has not crossed the limit of contracting a maximum of eight international players per team and if they showed interest in contracting any particular international player. In that case – provided the player received a ?no objection certificate? (NoC) from his national board – he will be contracted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). For example, it was decided that no English player would participate in IPL. ?However, one of the franchisers told us that they were keen on taking Dimitri Mascarenhas from Hampshire. We contacted the player and after he obtained a NOC from the Hampshire board, we included him in the second round of the auction,? Modi said.
Also, since the Australia tour in Pakistan has been postponed, both Australian and Pakistani players will be available for the IPL?s inaugural season, provided both the national boards give their clearance. The participation of these players is expected to increase the enthusiasm around IPL. On the other hand, international players will also earn more money out of the games. Explained Modi, ?Each player will get his entire fee only if he plays all the matches. In other words, they will get money depending on the number of matches they play.?
In the second round of auction, out of the international squad, while Team Jaipur bought Dimitri Mascarenhas for $100,000, there were 13 other international players who went up for grabs on Tuesday.
Jaipur picked up three more players including Shane Watson for $125,000, Sohail Tanveer for $100,000 and Morne Morkel for $60,000. Team Mohali bought three players including James Hopes for $300,000, Luke Pomersbach for $50,000 and Kyle Mills for $150,000. Team Bangalore got Misbah Ul Haq for $125,000, Abdur Razzaq for $50,000 and Ross Taylor for $100,000. Team Delhi got Brett Geeves for $50,000. Team Kolkata got Salman Butt for $100,000, and Mohammad Hafeez for $100,000. Team Mumbai got Ashwell Prince for $175,000.
The under-19 (U-19) team that won the recent world cup was also auctioned. The U19 team had a fixed price tag of $30,000, while the Ranji players in the U19 team had a fixed tariff of $50,000. Modi said, “Most of the contracts between players and franchisers are for one year. And within this one year, if a U19 player becomes a Ranji player, the contract will be revised.? Pradeep Sanghwan went to Team Delhi, Team Bangalore took Virat Kohli and Srivatsa Goswami; Tanmay Srivastava and Ajitesh Argal is now a part of Mohali, Ravindra Jadeja and Taruwar Kohli went to Jaipur, Saurabh Tiwary and Manish Pandey will play for Mumbai, Napoleon Einstein, Viraj Kadbe and Abhinav Mukund went to Chennai, and Iqbal Abdullah and Siddarth Kaul went to Kolkata.