Mallya, Mukesh pad up for IPL second innings

While the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has categorically stated that
the $5-million cap on players for the IPL teams will remain intact,
there is a growing debate within BCCI on whether the cap should
actually be eased.

IPL franchisees are learnt to be putting pressure on IPL officials to
remove the cap to enable them to buy players to better their
respective teams for the next season.

Team owners have already started meeting foreign players and are in
negotiation for the second season. Vijay Mallya is tipped to be in
conversation with English batsman Kevin Pieterson to get him on board
for the second season and has offered him about $2 million for the
same. RIL-owned Mumbai franchisee is learnt to be in conversation with
all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for the second season. However, none of
these negotiations will translate into anything if the player cap is
not lifted or at least increased. However, when contacted, Mr Mallya
said: "I'm in Paris and am not talking cricket right now."

IPL insiders said that the debate on whether the player's cap should
be upped is currently under the scanner, considering the demand from
franchise owners.

The IPL governing council has scheduled a meeting for the same in
July, where a decision will be taken. BCCI insiders told ET that in
all probability the salary cap will not be lifted, but will be
increased so as to allow some amount of player trading and purchase
for the next season. Repeated attempts to contact Mr Modi yielded no
response.

IPL franchises will be able to trade players early next year ahead of
the 2009 season. If the cap is not eased, franchise owners will have a
tough time restructuring teams, as trading in terms of barter will not
work. Mr Modi has made it clear that the rules for trading of players
will be issued early next year. However, trading of players is purely
franchise owners' prerogative, and players have no say. The concern
over lifting the salary cap is that franchisees with money power would
gain as opposed to the smaller franchisees, which would lead to a loss
of competitiveness. The other concern with salary caps being lifted is
the fact that player salaries would sky rocket, which will not be in
the interest of the game in the long term.