Tuesday, May 6, 2008

$ 15 Million (Rs. 60 Crore) bid for Top IPL Player

IPL T20 Cricket players will probably become the highest paid players in any sport from the next season of IPL.

This year there was an upper limit of $5 million (Rs. 20 crore only) to how much the franchises could bid for a player. Poor Players, imagine their loss!

But now the players can take heart as from the next season The Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to scrap the $5 million cap on the players' salaries,a move that could see top IPL T20 cricketers earn as much as a whopping $15 million (Rs 61 crore approx).

I hope that will be enough for the poor guys to buy three square meals a day in a good five star luxry hotel.

The IPL had put a cap of $5 million (just over Rs 20 crore) for the franchises this year to prevent the very rich team owners from splurging too much.

But with the inaugural edition turning out to be a major success (this means IPL T20 is raking in the moolah like anything), the players are set to reap the rewards in the next season.

IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi sadi,"If we hadn't done that, I can tell you that our players would already be the highest-paid across any sport in the world".

"It will happen - if not today, then tomorrow. Because once the franchises have established themselves, it will be a free-for-all," he added.

Some leading Australian cricketers like Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee can expect a several-fold hike in their pays when they go back to play the next season after their short stints this time.

Indian ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who fetched the maximum bidding price of Rs 6 crore this season, reportedly told a senior Australian player last week that extraordinary contracts of up to $14-15 million were likely to be introduced by the next season.

Hayden confirmed that players were up for a financial windfall when the next season of the IPL gets underway.

"From what I have heard, some of the stuff (payments) this year could be just the tip of the iceberg," Hayden said.

The franchises' knew there was money to be made in IPL T20. That is why we saw some of the big names like Ambani's, Mallya, SRK, Wadias etc bid for teams. The response to IPL has been bigger and better than expected. The big sharks had smelt the blood from a distance and now the kill confirmed that their assessment was right .

IPL Twenty20 will become, probably the biggest money mint, in the world of sport. If the looters, err I mean IPL team franchisers share some of thier loot with their henchmen...errr I meant players, what is wrong with it. As long as the public is willing to watch and pay who can complain.

The already rich players will become richer, but I hope that the lesser known boys of IPL also get some of this money. Don't be surprised the next time you hear a parent say,"Son, why are you wasting your time with books? There is no future in education. Pick up the bat and ball and hit the pitch, someday you might just get to sit on the side bench of IPL 20 20.

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