Fewer foreign players in 2014 Indian Premier League

During the recently-concluded meeting between the team owners and the Governing Council members in Singapore, it was decided that only nine overseas players can be registered as opposed to the earlier number of 11.

"Every team can only have nine overseas players in their squad. A team can have less foreign players but not more than that," a source told MiD DAY.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has always maintained that the IPL is an Indian domestic tournament. The purpose was always to promote Indian domestic players - which now seems to be the aim of new IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal.

Meanwhile, the auction for IPL-7, scheduled for February 12, will be challenging for all eight teams. It was decided that the teams would have to trim their squads from 33 players to 27. ('Joker's card' a new concept in IPL auction)

The decision was taken keeping in mind the team owners' demand of retaining five players in the new auction. "Franchises want to retain five players.

The purse of Rs 60 crore will remain the same. It was decided that every team can have a squad of only 27 players now," a source said.

It is learnt the players retained by a franchise would be on an annual contract. The scheduling of IPL-7 is a major concern for the BCCI as there is a possibility of the cash-rich T20- tournament clashing with the general elections in India.

The source said: "No decision on scheduling was taken. "The IPL chairman (Ranjib Biswal) will approach the Home Ministry. We will hold the tournament in the first week of April and end it before June 1.

If the Home Ministry cannot assure us full security, then maybe matches towards the end could move to another Asian country. Either Sri Lanka or Bangladesh could host those games. There is no talk of moving the entire tournament to another country."

Though the Pakistan Cricket Board is optimistic of their players' participation in the forthcoming IPL, the source said there was no discussion about Pakistani players being part of the auction. "There was no such talk and I don't think there would be any in the future," he said.

It can be recalled that the BCCI had allowed a Pakistani team to participate in the last Champions League T20. They also invited Pakistan for an ODI series in 2012.