New IPL payment structure to reward performance: Arun Dhumal

The choice of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as the venue for the upcoming IPL mega auction, surprising as it may sound, is with an eye towards increasing the global footprint of the cash-rich league. The first mega auction ever since the IPL became a 10-team affair is scheduled in the kingdom's luxury coastal city for 24-25 November.

While the buzz is that the decision is a move to show that the BCCI is cozying up to the West Asian kingdom after the latter’s flagship company Aramco pulled out of its IPL sponsorship recently, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal downplays the suggestion. ‘’It’s not necessarily with an eye on sponsorship, rather a recognition of the fact that the Middle East has become a cricket hub where our franchises have also invested in global leagues. With the wedding season now on in full swing in India, our team explored a number of options before Jeddah was selected,’’ Dhumal said in an interview.

This is the second year on the trot that the event is being held in that part of the world, with Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena having played host to the mini-auction last year. It’s also no longer a secret that having acquired significant stakes in Dubai’s IL T20 and South Africa’s T20 franchise leagues, some of the IPL team owners are now zeroing in on The Hundred in England. London, hence, was also on the shortlist for the mega auction but the idea was possibly dropped owing to the weather, costs, and other logistical issues. 

Asked if the choice of Jeddah, which hosts the Saudi Formula 1 Grand Prix, has any connection to media reports last year of a Saudi interest to invest heavily in the IPL, Dhumal told National Herald: ‘’The reports suggested that there were some talks between the Indian and Saudi governments, but we at the BCCI are yet to hear anything from our government.’’        

A total of 1,574 players (1,165 Indian and 409 overseas) have registered for the auction, and the interesting part is that the USA has registered as many as 10 players along with countries like The Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, UAE and even Italy, apart from the usual full member countries barring Pakistan. ‘’The performance of USA in the last T20 World Cup convinced us that there could be some quality players from Major League Cricket making the cut in the IPL soon,’’ said Dhumal, who is also the BCCI treasurer. 

While the BCCI has increased the total auction purse from Rs 110 crore to Rs 120 crore per franchise, there will also be a marginal increase in the total salary purse of the teams, comprising the auction purse and the incremental performance pay. It will, hence, be a win-win situation for the players as the purse of each team will go up each year in a phased manner in the new cycle: Rs 146 crore (2025), Rs 151 crore (2026) and Rs 157 crore (2027).

"Add to this the introduction of match fees of Rs 7.5 lakh per game for a player, which will be added to their contracted amount. Our aim is to ensure that a player can maximise his value on the merit of performance while it’s also a level playing field for all franchises,’’ Dhumal said.

‘’The idea is to eventually have the most competitive league in the game with the accent on performance as we go forward. The performance-based pay, along with the match fees, can help a newcomer boost his earnings all the way,’’ he said.