By IANS
Melbourne : Legal representatives from Cricket Australia (CA) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) will meet in London to break the impending impasse over the Australian cricketers’ participation in the billion-dollar league in India starting April 18, the media reported here Tuesday.
According to a report in The Age, CA lawyer Dean Kino flew to London Monday night to meet legal representatives of the IPL, which is backed by the Indian cricket board, to find a way that would allow Australians play in the lucrative Twenty20 competition.
The daily also reported that Australian players are frustrated at not being able to sign up for the billion-dollar tournament. With a players’ auction to be held in little over a week, the Australian cricketers stand the risk of losing the chance to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for a few weeks of cricket.
However the failure of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to provide sufficient and consistent detail on the hastily arranged event means CA cannot give its players permission to join or they will be in breach of contract.
Of the many clauses in the 338-page memorandum of understanding agreed between CA and the players, which must not clash with the IPL, one is the number of Australian players able to join each of the eight franchises.
Article 12.1 in the memorandum states that no more than two Australian or state-contracted players can be part of any overseas team, to help preserve the integrity of the national and state teams.
However, under ever-changing IPL rules, the eight franchises can sign up to six overseas players each and can have four in the team at any one time. Given the franchises sold for an average $100 million each, the owners are well cashed-up and will expect a lot for their money. That includes being able to buy the best players.
And given that 10 of Australia’s leading players signed an initial, non-binding agreement with the BCCI some time ago, and most are among the best in the world, wealthy owners will want to be able to put together the best team unhindered by foreign contracts.
Most of Australia’s players are unlikely to be able to play in the first two years of the IPL because of tour commitments. But even so, if they sign up and are in the player auction they can still receive a retainer, which could be worth up to $300,000.
The IPL is scheduled to begin April 18, with the players required in India a week earlier.