IPL puts ball in franchise court

Earlier, the Delhi franchise GMR and Hyderabad’s Deccan Chronicle had floated the idea of confining Sehwag and Laxman play to the cities they are based.

Confirming this, IPL governor Lalit Modi said, “We thought that this issue should be sorted out by the franchises among themselves. As both players names weren’t in the list of icons during the tender process, there were divergent views on whether or not the players should be included,” he said.

The eight IPL franchises are schedule to meet on February 19 when a decision on Laxman and Sehwag is expected. “We just need answer in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from the franchise before the final auction,” added Modi.

Meanwhile, real state developers DLF got the title rights for the IPL at Rs 200 crores for the next five years. “There were four companies who came forward to bid for the title sponsorship rights. DLF, Percept D’Mark, World Sports Group (WSG), who made their bid on behalf of Hero Honda and 21st Century Media. But 21st Century Media later pulled out from the bidding,” Modi said. Modi informed that the minimum bid for title sponsorship was Rs 135 crore.