By IANS
New Delhi : The Indian cricket board Thursday announced two highly ambitious Twenty20 tournaments – one domestic and the other international – with the biggest prize money ever offered in cricket.
The Indian Premier League (IPL), the domestic tournament that will be played in April next year, will offer $3 million prize money while the Champion’s Twenty20, to be contested by two teams from India, Australia, England and South Africa, will have $5 million to be won.
Announcing the details at a press conference here, Lalit Modi, a vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the brain behind the “historic” initiative, said that both tournaments would have franchisee concept that would “revolutionise domestic cricket” in the country.
“The IPL has been designed to entice an entire new generation of sports fans into the grounds throughout the country. The dynamic Twenty20 format has been designed to attract a younger fan base, which also includes women and children,” he said in the presence of International Cricket Council (ICC) president Ray Mali as well as the heads of all 10 Test-playing nations.
Also present at the press conference were India’s Test captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath and former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.
Modi also announced that retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne would also be playing in the IPL, which is modelled on the lines of the successful National Basketball Association of the US, Major League Soccer and the National Football League.
Experts said that IPL has been launched to nullify the breakaway Twenty20 Indian Cricket League (ICL) of Subhash Chandra’s Zee-Essel group, which will be launched this November.
Many domestic players and some foreign players, like Brian Lara of the West Indies, have signed to play in ICL, which has not been approved by the BCCI. Indian players who have signed for ICL now cannot play BCCI-recognised tournaments.
Describing IPL announcement as a historic moment, BCCI president Sharad Pawar said: “This historic day should be written with golden ink. This initiative will give a new direction to not just Indian cricket but world cricket as well.”
IPL will feature eight franchises in the first season, with each team playing seven home and away games against each another in a total of 56 in a season to determine the four finalists, who would then face off in the semi-finals.
A grand final would be played toward the end of April 2008 culminating in a clash of the two best club sides in India. IPL hopes to grow the eight franchises to 16 by 2010.
The IPL governing council will comprise seven members with Modi being its chairman and commissioner. The other members are: former BCCI president I.S. Bindra, board vice-president Chirayu Amin and Delhi District and District Cricket Association president Arun Jaitely besides former India captains Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri.
Modi said the composition of the teams would be announced later.
The cricket boards of India, England, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa will be involved in the Champion’s Twenty20.
Devised along the lines of the Champions League in Football, Champion’s Twenty20 will feature two finalists from the Indian, South African, English and Australian domestic Twenty20 competitions in October next year.
The proposed format includes a nine-day tournament in two divisions, featuring 12 group matches, two semi finals and a final.
Teams will be competing for a total $5 million prize pool, including $2 million for the winner.
Mali said: “ICC fully supports the initiative of the BCCI in launching IPL and the Champion’s Twenty20 league in conjunction with Australia, South Africa and England.”