Runs and wickets at the Indian Premier League's Twenty20 competition will not gain official recognition, cricket's world governing body said Tuesday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) regards the multi-million-dollar IPL, promoted by the Indian board and featuring top stars from around the world, as a domestic Indian competition, a spokesman said.
"The IPL is not international cricket, it is a domestic tournament," ICC spokesman James Fitzgerald told AFP when asked if players' performances will gain official recognition.
"Therefore, the matches do not have Twenty20 international status." The IPL is a city-based tournament with eight teams bought by franchises who selected their respective line-ups via auction in Mumbai last month. The tournament, which runs from April 18 to June 1, will mark the first time international cricketers will put aside their national allegiances to play for privately-owned teams.
Players have received huge pay packets, starting from 100,000 dollars for the first year, to take part in the 44-day, 59-match extravaganza across cricket-mad India. In a sport where only a few top stars net more than a million dollars a year in fees and endorsements for their respective countries, the IPL has showered unprecedented riches. The Chennai franchise bought India's limited-overs captain Mahendra Dhoni for 1.5 million dollars, while Hyderabad snagged Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds for 1.35 million dollars.
-- MUMBAI: Indian Premier League teams after the second round of auctions on Tuesday:
-- Bangalore: Rahul Dravid (capt-IND), Jacques Kallis (RSA), Anil Kumble (IND), Cameron White (AUS), Zaheer Khan (IND), Mark Boucher (RSA), Nathan Bracken (AUS), Dale Steyn (RSA), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WIS), Wasim Jaffer (IND), Misbah-ul Haq (PAK), Virat Kohli (IND), Abdur Razzak (BAN), Ross Taylor (NZL), Shreevats Goswami (IND).
-- Chennai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt-IND)), Jacob Oram (NZL), Suresh Raina (IND), Albie Morkel (RSA), Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI), Matthew Hayden (AUS), Michael Hussey (AUS), Stephen Fleming (NZL), Parthiv Patel (IND), Joginder Sharma (IND), Makhaya Ntini (RSA), Napoleon Einstein (IND), Abhinav Mukund (IND).
-- Ddelh: Virender Sehwag (capt-IND), Gautam Gambhir (IND), Manoj Tiwary (IND), Mohammad Asif (PAK), Daniel Vettori (NZL), Dinesh Karthik (IND), Shoaib Malik (PAK), Glenn McGrath (AUS), Abraham de Villiers (RSA), Tillekeratne Dilshan (SRI), Farveez Maharoof (SRI), Pradeep Sangwan (IND), Brett Geeves (AUS).
-- Hyderabad: Venkatsai Laxman (capt-IND)), Andrew Symonds (AUS), Rudra Pratap Singh (IND), Rohit Sharma (IND), Adam Gilchrist (AUS), Shahid Afridi (PAK), Herschelle Gibbs (RSA), Chaminda Vaas (SRI), Scott Styris (NZL), Nuwan Zoysa (SRI), Chamara Silva (SRI).
-- Jaipur: Shane Warne (capt-AUS)), Yusuf Pathan (IND), Graeme Smith (RSA), Mohammad Kaif (IND), Munaf Patel (IND), Younis Khan (PAK), Justin Langer (AUS), Kamran Akmal (PAK), Dimitri Mascarenhas (ENG), Shane Watson (AUS), Morne Morkel (RSA), Sohail Tanvir (PAK), Taruwar Kohli (IND), Ravindra Jadeja (IND).
-- Kolkata: Sourav Ganguly (capt-IND), Ishant Sharma (IND), Chris Gayle (WIS), Brendon McCullum (NZL), David Hussey (AUS), Shoaib Akhtar (PAK), Murali Kartik (IND), Ricky Ponting (AUS), Ajit Agarkar (IND), Umar Gul (PAK), Tatenda Taibu (ZIM), Salman Butt (PAK), Mohammad Hafeez (PAK), Siddarth Kaul (IND), Iqbal Abdullah (IND).
-- Mohali: Yuvraj Singh (capt-IND)), Irfan Pathan (IND), Brett Lee (AUS), Kumar Sangakkara (SRI), Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (IND), Mahela Jayawardene (SRI), Piyush Chawla (IND), Ramnaresh Sarwan (WIS), Simon Katich (AUS), Ramesh Powar (IND), James Hopes (AUS), Luke Pomersbach (AUS), Kyle Mills (NZL), Tanmay Srivastava (IND), Ajitesh Argal (IND).
-- Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar (capt-IND), Sanath Jayasuriya (SRI), Harbhajan Singh (IND), Robin Uthappa (IND), Shaun Pollock (RSA), Lasith Malinga (SRI), Loots Bosman (RSA), Dilhara Fernando (SRI), Ashwell Prince (RSA), Saurabh Tiwary (IND), Manish Pandey (IND).
-- Note: Local players will be added to make up the 16-man squads.