|
Sydney, Australia: At least five Australian cricket players are waiting until the last minute to sign up for the Indian Premier League, with 15 mentioned by local media as likely starters in the lucrative Twenty20 competition.
The Indian league's Australian agent Neil Maxwell said that five players who had been granted an extension to the deadline to sign contracts were spending the day going through last-minute details before committing to the competition.
Information
"I need to present the final signatures to India overnight," Maxwell said. "With all that's going on the players haven't had a lot of time to take it all in.
"They've been playing matches, so they need time to digest some of the information."
He said the players needed to assure themselves that they were not in breach of any contractual arrangements with Cricket Australia regarding existing sponsors.
"We've got fundamental approval from Cricket Australia that they're happy with the IPL agreement, and if there are any issues they're happy to work through them," Maxwell said.
Players available
He declined to name the last five players to sign, but said they are among the initial draft of Australians.
Australian Associated Press said the IPL contracted players from Australia are: Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne and Cameron White.
It says retired players Warne, McGrath, Langer and Gilchrist are expected to be available for the entire competition from April 18 to the end of May, along with Katich and Gillespie.
Effect
On the weekend, Cricket Australia said a ruling had been in effect preventing more than two Australian players from competing for any one international team. But the ruling was enacted several years ago and it was unclear if the regulation would remain in effect for the IPL.
The eight IPL teams, based in different Indian cities, are selling for a combined $700 million for 10-year franchises.
A 10-year television deal is going for more than $1 billion.
|
