Hello again from New Delhi

Priety Zinta, part owner Kings Xl Punjab.

Shilpa Shetty co owner Rajasthan Royals.

After last week's IPL auction I have been interested to see the post-auction developments.
One was that the Mumbai Indians reportedly paid US$1.75 million (NZ$2.36m) per season for Kieron Pollard. The IPL gets the amount over $750,000 due to the present team salary cap. Shane Bond's Kolkata Knightriders team paid $US 1 million (NZ$1.35mill) for Bond. Bond gets US$750,000. Bit of a shame for Bondy to miss out on the extra NZ$350,000 a year!
The strongest message that came out of the auction this year is that the owners are saying availability is the main criteria for selection of players.
Priety Zinta, famous actress and owns a part of the Twenty20 team Kings XI Punjab said on Star Mail (cricket), 'We are sending a strong message to the cricket boards of the world that we will not invest money in your players if we find out afterwards they are not available for the IPL.”
'We do not want to pay for world class players and have them not available – players coming and going and not available is no good for us.”
Already Indian coaches are mentioning that a month before the IPL begins players in the 27 team strong Ranji Trophy (first class cricket) are not wanting to play in fear of being injured before the IPL. As it stands Indian first class players are well paid and also receive a pension from the BCCI (Indian Cricket Board) for the rest of their lives. Hopefully the money is not sitting in Hanover Finance.
That is on a domestic level. But what does it mean for international players? If guys as good as Bond can get $1 million for 45 days work it compares favorably to a Black Cap getting $300 - $500,000. For this a Black Cap would need to be ranked high in the yearly contract list and play nearly every match to receive match payments on top.
There will be some tough choices for players, or the ICC will have to work out a window for this competition. Or NZC may have to allow contracts with an open window? The competition is also getting bigger with more investment.
YouTube will stream all IPL matches this season over the internet. The only country not to receive the feed will be the USA.
IPL sides are becoming more selective in their rosters. For IPL4 in 2011, Sumit Mukherjee – Times of India – says, 'Unlike in the first IPL auction where reputation mattered more than pedigree, players doing well in IPL 2010 and the T20 World Cup will be hot picks and not the old lions who are long in the tooth.”
IPL 4
There are two big stories being reported for next year's IPL (2011).
There are to be two more franchises added. This will increase the matches played and will mean more foreign players needed. Instead of a 14 match regular season it will become 18 matches with a 10 team comp.
The number of foreign players on each team's roster will increase from 6 to 12. But only 4 foreign players can play for each team in an IPL match. This is to protect the development of Indian cricketers.
Each player will be allowed to play a maximum of 14 of the 18 matches which means 'bench” players should be used at some stage.
So with 10 teams next year and 12 on each team we could see 120 players winging their way to India. This would take a huge dent out of the 9 team strong international cricket calendar one would have thought.
The IPL is expecting to have 500 players putting their name up for auction next year. The first year deals end this season so nearly everyone will be up for grabs.

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, who co-owns the IPL Rajasthan Royals team with her London-based businessman boyfriend Raj Kumdra, considers it a long-term profitable investment.
"Raj (my partner) and I have thought of it as a long-term investment plan and I really think the way the Rajasthan Royals have turned out as a team has been spectacular," says Shetty.
"Their (Rajasthan Royals) growth as a team and an investment has gone by leaps and bounds. It made money even last year, and it will continue to make money this year, despite the whole shift from India to South Africa."
There is huge money to be made for the owners in TV splits, advertising, merchandising and the like, which is the same as any pro sport. They put some in but want slightly more back for the risk.