More IPL teams in 2011: Pawar

The octangular Indian Premier League (IPL) will get even bigger with three more teams set to come into its fold from 2011, according to BCCI president Sharad Pawar.

While Pune (Maharashtra) is virtually assured of an IPL team of its own, two more will come up at soon-to-be-decided locations in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

"We invite bids from prospective buyers, and three highest bidders will be selected. In Gujarat, it will be either Ahmedabad or Vadodara and in Uttar Pradesh, it will be Kanpur or Lucknow. Noida is also an option," said Pawar on Sunday. He also ruled out having 10 teams for the next edition of the Twenty20 competition, citing that as per an agreement, a part of the earnings from TV rights goes to the teams for three years. "Eighty per cent of the TV rights in the first three years goes to the franchises. So if there are more teams, there will be a problem in distribution of the money. So, there will be more teams but from the fourth edition only," said Pawar.

The BCCI chief was ecstatic about the success of the first edition of the IPL. "It has united families as parents and children watched matches together in the evening. It has also unearthed new talents. Nobody had given Rajasthan Royals even an outside chance to win. But they did it with relatively unfamiliar players," said Pawar.

Meanwhile, board secretary Niranjan Shah said the Rs 250 crore profit from the first edition of IPL will be distributed among the state associations. "The money we earned will be used for the development of the sport, which includes building stadiums and improving infrastructure," he said.


Second News


First Champions League to be held in India

The first Champions League will be played in India this year, said Lalit Modi, the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) official and the Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner on Monday.

The matches will be played in three venues - Jaipur, New Delhi and Mohali from September 29 to October 8.

Eight teams are expected to participate in the event that will include the teams securing the first and the second positions in the domestic Twenty20 events of South Africa and Australia, besides the winner and runners-up of the IPL.

Apart from this, one team from Pakistan will also take part in the tournament and the PCB has ensured its complete cooperation in this regard.

However, because of the differences that occurred between the India and the England boards on some administrative matters of the Champions League, no team from England is likely to take part in the competition.

But Modi is not too worried about the issue and confirmed if no team comes from England then any team from Sri Lanka or New Zealand would fill the gap.

The details of the event is scheduled to be finalised in Mumbai on Wednesday at a meeting that is suppose to be attended by officials from the BCCI, Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA).

The idea of the Champions League was first proposed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India when they launched the Indian Premier League. The Champions League is supposed to be an annual event which will have two domestic teams from each Test-playing nation competing in the competition.

Go India!

thats great ... thx