By IANS
Melbourne : A breakthrough in negotiations with Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has occurred and will help Australian cricketers sign the contracts of the Indian Premier League (IPL) by this weekend’s deadline, the media reported here Friday.
According to a report in The Age, IPL owners have budged on their condition that players must be available to promote the sponsors of their franchises and will not have to feature in commercials for rivals of CA’s sponsors.
Inderjit Singh Bindra, a former president of the BCCI and co-founder of the IPL, said there were still issues to work through but he believed a resolution would be reached in the next two days.
IPL’s chairman Lalit Modi, who earlier threatened to run the competition without Australian players, is poring over the final version of the contract recommended by CA chief James Sutherland, with the major sticking point now being rival sponsors’ logos on team shirts.
“My hearing is that Lalit and James are very close to arriving at a conclusion that is satisfying to both parties. Every problem has to have a solution. We have a very close relationship with Cricket Australia and we are not going to sacrifice that for some temporary gain,” Bindra said.
While some may view the development as a win for Cricket Australia, Bindra preferred to call it “a victory for cricket”.
“If we have a solution, then it is a victory for the game. India is not going to be the sole beneficiary of the IPL. Players across the globe are going to get a major part of the pie.”
Sutherland said: “There is a lot of detail involved in aligning existing contractual obligations with those of this new Indian domestic competition. But we are approaching this with an open mind on trying to resolve the issue in a manner which allows IPL to go ahead with Australian player participation, when available.”
Sutherland also said he would be open to rescheduling international tours to work around the IPL.