Former Australia batsman Brad Hodge on Monday took to Twitter to make a startling revelation that players who played for now defunct franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) ten years ago have still not received their 35 percent match fee. The IPL is the biggest domestic T20 tournament in the world and Hodge's tweet came as a huge surprise to many on the social media. The former cricketer, who played represented several IPL franchises between 2008 and 2014 and was part of KTK in 2011 where he played 14 league games and scored 285 runs at a strike rate of 120.76.
"Players are still owed 35% of their money earned from ten years ago from the @IPL representing Kochi tuskers. Any chance @BCCI could locate that money?" Hodge tweeted.
The franchise which was bought for a whooping Rs 1,550 crore a year ago defaulted on their annual payment after which the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) terminated their contract in 2011. The franchise won the case against the BCCI and the court ordered the board to pay Rs 550 crore.
In their only season, the franchise finished eighth in the 10-team table after winning six out of 14 league games. Besides Hodge, Mahela Jayawardene, Brendon McCullum and Ravindra Jadeja all featured for the franchise in their only IPL season.
In his IPL career that lasted 66 matches, Hodge played for franchises like Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and KTK and scored 1,400 runs at decent average of 33.33 and a strike rate of 125.22 with the help of six half-centuries.