BCCI diktat IPL teams

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has on Tuesday asked all the 10 IPL franchise not to sign any domestic players for IPL-4.

The BCCI took this step after learning that most of the IPL teams are planning to buy domestic players who would not be up for the players' auctions.

Confirming this news, a Delhi Daredevil official said: "Yes, BCCI has asked all the teams to stay away from the domestic players. Till they (BCCI) announce the dates and guidelines, we can't sign any domestic player."

He added: "In the letter BCCI has mentioned about teams striking deals with domestic players and that is unacceptable. They have asked us to stick to the guidelines. If the team still decides to sign a player, the BCCI will hold the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) invalid."

However, there was no clear indication as to when the board will start allowing the teams to sign the domestic players. The board was also miffed to know that domestic players are demanding huge amounts from the teams.

Meanwhile, a BCCI source on Tuesday said that the players' auction will be held in Bangalore on January 8 and 9.

The source said: "A total of 416 players will go under the hammer and the auction will be held in Bangalore."

According to the rules, each team has a cap of $9 million for the auction except those who have retained their old players.

If a team retains four players they will have to give $1.8m to the first, 1.3 to the second, 0.9 to the third and 0.5 to the fourth — a total of $4.5m. This will leave them with only $4.5m for the auction.