IPL asks capped overseas players to deal directly

Mumbai:

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has asked all international overseas players wishing to take part in the auction scheduled on January 19 to deal directly with it by avoiding agents or managers for the purpose.

IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi has also set December 31 as the deadline for the players, who have represented their country in Test, ODIs or T20 Internationals, and are interested in taking part in the March-April edition of the Twenty20 event, to register themselves for the auction.

"They have been requested to register their interest directly with IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi and refrain from using agents or managers for the purpose. The number of overseas players that a franchise may have in its squad is capped at 10," said IPL in a media release on Tuesday.

As per the procedure decided, an interested player who has represented his country in Tests, ODIs or T20 internationals, will have to send a personal e-mail directly to Modi at playerauction@iplt20.com and request that their names be placed on the "IPL Auction Register".

The player should confirm he has received an NOC from his home cricket board to take part in the March 12-April 25 event and also specify whether he is available for the full 2010 season (from March 2 till April end), the release said.

If the player is unavailable for the whole period, he should state the reason for it and the period for which he will not be available, the IPL said.

The IPL has also made it clear that the auction would relate only for participation in the 2010 season and the deadline for receipt of this request is midnight Indian standard time (IST) on December 31.

Reiterating that it would deal directly with the players and will have "no communication with player agents or managers," IPL also warned that any failure by a player to abide by this request will result in the player's name being withdrawn with immediate effect from the IPL Auction Register.

The complete IPL Auction Register would then be sent to the eight franchises to select those players that they would like to be included in the auction.

Players will be notified by e-mail on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 if they have been selected for inclusion in the auction.

Although the final number of available places in the Franchises' squads for 2010 will not be known until nearer the auction, IPL expects that the number will be substantially lower than 17 that were available in 2009.

The players' reserve fee would be notified on January 5 and the auction agreement signed with the respective franchise needs to be returned by the player to the IPL by midnight (IST) of January 15, the release said.