|
Mumbai: The multi-million dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) will not cast a shadow over international cricket and will be a boon to the game around the world, insists the chairman of the new Twenty20 tournament.
Lalit Modi said the league, which is sanctioned by the International Cricket Council and due for launch on April 18, would actually motivate players to earn more caps for their country.
Worries that cash-rich India would exert its financial muscle to make the IPL a more lucrative option than international cricket were unfounded, he added.
"As far as the IPL is concerned, the value of a player to us is only if he is playing for his national side. We have put enough safeguards into the system to ensure that," Modi said.
The IPL, to be played in March and April each year, has eight franchises that were sold for a combined $700 million (Dh2.6 billion) to firms and consortiums for a 10-year period.
More than 80 international cricketers are expected to feature in a players' auction in Mumbai on February 20 with each franchise having a cap of $5 million (Dh18 million).
Modi was confident the 16 Australian players contracted would be available to take part in the auction and that an ongoing sponsorship row between the IPL and Cricket Australia (CA) would be resolved.
CA want protection for its sponsors during the IPL, a request the organisers have rejected.
Modi said the benefits of the IPL far outweighed any negatives.
"It benefits world cricket because it benefits all their players - they are able to supplement their income by coming to us," he said.
"It is not of benefit to us (the Indian board) alone, it is to the benefit of everybody else. The months we have scheduled, there are not many countries playing."
The tournament, which was set up to counter an unofficial Indian Twenty20 league, will be played over 44 days in eight cities and feature 59 matches aimed at TV in India, which has a population of 1.1 billion people and the world's biggest cricket audience.
"We want the IPL to be one of the icon brands in the world and we are going to push everything that is required to achieve that," said Modi, who is also a vice-president of the Indian cricket board.
|
