Writers Blocked

BCCI says no to newspaper columns by cricketers during World Cup.

Four of Indias senior cricketers Sachin Tendulkar,Yuvraj Singh,Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra met BCCI president Shashank Manohar,here on Friday,to discuss the ambush marketing guidelines put in place by the ICC for the World Cup. The meeting also saw the players seek the Boards permission to write newspaper columns during the event and demand equal match-fee for all the members of the World Cup squad.

It is learnt that while the permission to express their views in the media was denied,the BCCI has agreed that all the 15 World Cuppers will get uniform remuneration. Earlier,the players were allowed to write columns but this time it is different. We dont want the players to lose their focus during an important tournament like the World Cup. But the players demand about match fee was met by the BCCI president, a top BCCI official said on condition of anonymity.

As per the earlier arrangement,the players in the playing XI got Rs 4 lakh per game,while those in the reserve got half of that amount.

Its over for Ganguly

Meanwhile,Sourav Gangulys last hope of making a entry in the IPL-IV were dashed after the IPL-Governing Council GC decided that the players who were left unsold at the auction cannot be bought by a franchise,who were now having second thoughts about them. We had received a request from one franchise that they were interested in Ganguly. We rejected it after objections were raised by some other franchises, GC chairman Chirayu Amin said.

4 match ban for Pandey

The GC has imposed a four match ban on Karnataka middle-order batsman Manish Pandey for breaching players guidelines. However,Pandey will feature for the Sahara owned Pune team in the IPL-4 season. Explaining the reason for imposing the ban,Amin said,Pandeys agent was negotiating with a number of franchises.

Auction was fair

The GC also responded to the auction-related clarification asked by the Mumbai Indians few weeks ago. As regards the letter from M/s. India Win Sports Private Limited Mumbai Indians regarding the recent IPL auction,the Governing Council was briefed by the operational team including IMG on all aspects of the letter, Srinivasan said in a statement.

The procedure followed in this years auction is exactly the same as was done in all the previous IPL auctions. Representatives of all franchisees had read the auction briefing note prepared by the IMG which included the changes referred to and signed the same in acceptance before the auction including the India Win Sports Private Limited Mumbai Indians.The Governing Council reiterates that the auction was transparent and fair, he said.

DY Patil to host Pune games

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In another development,Mumbais DY Patil will host five IPL games of the Pune team,while Dharamsala will hold three IPL games of the Kings XI Punjab.

The inspection committee will also have a look at Punes new stadium next week and will decide whether to allot a few IPL games to them.

Meanwhile,Kochi has been given options of Indore,Ahmedabad and Dharamsala to choose as their venues.