Ten teams in IPL-IV and Pakistanis in IPL-III!

As Indian cricket grapples with the existence of pitches that could lull some of the biggest insomniacs to sleep, the Indian Premier League has had a couple of worries of their own. The IPL had sent in a proposal to raise the number of teams in the tournament to ten, from the year 2011, but this had most of the franchises rejecting the offer.

The rationale behind the refutation was that the profits would then get reduced, but the messrs Lalit Modi and his marketing team seemed to have gotten their way. The chief of the IPL managed to convince most of the team owners that the introduction of two more sides would have contrasting changes to the sides’ fortunes to what they envisaged; more teams would end up getting the profits up. In all probabilities, this is not too far from the truth because given the kind of brand that the IPL has created for itself, it is only natural that the selling price of the additional two teams would be much more than the price that Mukesh Ambani had had to pay for his Mumbai Indians.

Also given the knack that Modi has for negotiations and re-negotiations, one is not too sure, but there is a reasonable possibility that the deal with the broadcasters could also be tweaked – read, the broadcaster would be cajoled into paying more – and hence the central kitty of funds would automatically increase for the sides. Apparently, the only side which has had a problem with this is the Chennai Super Kings, which is owned by N.Srinivasan, who, incidentally, is also the secretary of the BCCI. In many quarters, Srinivasan and Modi have said to have locked horns over many issues, including the most recent one related to the termination of the contract of IMG – the management company which manages the IPL.

While the things are hazy about which direction the issue would turn to in the coming weeks, one can be sure that it is not the last that one has heard of from the pair from BCCI.

Less than one year back, the Pakistani government had banned their cricketers from participating in the IPL – or any other sporting event in India – due to the delicate situation between the two countries. For now, not only has the Pakistani government given the players permission to feature in the tournament, but also has had the PCB waiting anxiously for the invites. PCB COO Wasim Bari has said that while the players were ready to play in the next edition of the IPL, they have yet to receive any formal invitation from the IPL failing which, the visa process will be a non-starter.

Unsurprisingly, the Pakistani players will be in hot demand for the next season’s IPL as winners of the ICC World T20 side. Even in this year, Pakistan has won nine of the 11 games that they have featured in, making them the most successful side in the format. Add that to the manner in which the likes of Shahid Afridi has matured as an all-round cricketer, and the remaining likes of Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer and Shoaib Malik are suited to the youngest format of the game, it does seem that the franchises will be gunning to get some of them in their sides.

Talking of T20 news from around the world, 12 teams are battling it out in the Asian T20 Cup. China, Afghanistan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Singapore, Qatar, Hong Kong, Nepal, Saudi Arab, Malaysia and Bahrain will compete in this tournament, which will end on the 30th of November. The top three sides from this tournament will join India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and China in the Asian Games.

To end this piece, here is another trivia. The oldest cricketer ever to debut in a T20I is Sunil Dhaniram from Canada, the only one over the age of 39 to do so. The oldest from a test playing nation to debut in the T20I format is Floyd Reifer while representing West Indies against Bangladesh at 37 years and ten days.