The Indian Premier League "has gone desi," according to Vijay Tagore of the MUMBAI MIRROR. Even foreign players "will have to take their fee in India rupees." The Governing Council "has proposed a salary cap" of Rs 60 crore ($10M) for the IPL 7 auction. It "is almost equivalent of the upper limit for IPL 6," which was $12.5M. The franchises "will not have to spend the entire amount" but they can not go beyond that. Concurrently, it "was also proposed" that there would be a 5% increase every year. The franchises thus "will know what can be their spend on the players each year." A few teams "have privately expressed reservation over the high figure but they could not force a change." It is an established norm that "the policies of the league have always been for the deep pockets" (MUMBAI MIRROR, 11/30).
STAYING IN: In Mumbai, Indranil Basu wrote almost all IPL officials and team representatives "are against IPL going out of India." With the dates of general elections likely to clash with the IPL schedule in '14, fears are that like in '09, "the government may refuse to provide personnel for security during the matches." Four teams -- Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore -- "have already expressed their wish to keep IPL in India next year." Some politicians who are Board of Control for Cricket in India members and some leaders in whose states these IPL teams are based want the IPL to be held in India as they want to "ride on the IPL wave" during elections. However, for most teams, "an away IPL would mean loss of revenue" (TIMES OF INDIA, 12/1). The PTI reported the Pakistan Cricket Board is optimistic that Pakistani players might get a chance to play in the IPL next year "or else they will be without any international commitments for a period of six months." A senior official of the PCB said that "the national team had no international commitments lined up after the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in March" up to October (PTI, 11/29). The PTI also reported seeking to capitalize on its financial clout, the BCCI "is set to demand a greater share of the profit from the revenues generated by the International Cricket Council." According to sources in the BCCI, Srinivasan met Cricket Australia Chair Walter Edwards in Singapore last week to discuss "the profit-sharing model between the member nations of the ICC." A BCCI official said, "Srinivasan met the CA top boss and discussed India's concerns about what he thought should be the profit-sharing model. The moot point of discussion was that India generates close to 75 percent of the income for the parent body. Therefore, we are well within our rights to demand a greater share of profit" (PTI, 12/2).
