MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to scrap the rotational policy of appointing president.

The BCCI has called for a Special General Meeting in Chennai on 15 September to make amendments to the clause that will allow candidates from any of the five zones to stand for future presidential elections.

N Srinivasan, the outgoing president of the board, is from South Zone. As per the current rotational policy, it is East Zone?s turn to send a president when Srinivasan completes his term in 2014.

The changes, it is believed, is being brought to pave the way for BJP leader and Delhi District Cricket Association president Arun Jaitley ascension to the top of BCCI hierarchy. Without amendment to rotational policy clause, Jaitley would have to wait till 2014, when the North Zone?s turn comes to appoint a president.

"As per the existing rule, a president has to be from a particular zone whose turn it is by rotation to take over the presidentship. The change sought to be made at the SGM is that the future presidential candidate may belong to any of the five zones, but only needs to be proposed and seconded by the zone whose turn it is," newswire PTI quotes BCCI sources as saying.

The move will strengthen the control of policians in the world?s richest cricket board which has been grappling with charges of financial misconduct in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Earlier, Congress leader and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla was appointed as IPL chairman.

MUMBAI: Hockey India, the governing body of the sport in India, has roped in politicians and cricket administrators Rajeev Shukla and Arun Jaitley on board as members of Hockey India League, the club based league that will kick-off in January next year.

Apart from Shukla and Jaitley, Television personality and India TV Editor in Chief Rajat Sharma has also joined the board.

While Jaitley is vice-president of BCCI from North Zone, Shukla is the chairman of cash-rich Indian Premier League.

Hockey India secretary-general and HIL chairman Narinder Batra said the appointments would help HIL. "We are sure that the Hockey India League will gain from Mr. Shukla`s knowledge as chairman of the Indian Premier League Governing Council and in public life, Mr. Jaitley`s vast experience as lawyer and sports administrator and Mr. Rajat Sharma`s experience as a media personality," Batra said.

HI has already got Sahara India Pariwar on board as the Lucknow franchise owner.

The HIL, which will rival World Series Hockey, will have six city-based teams selected from a pool of 12 cities that have infrastructure and facilities to host a match.

MUMBAI: Rattled by the sting operation which brought unethical dealings between domestic players and the franchises to the fore, the BCCI has decided to auction all uncapped players from next edition of the tournament.

"All domestic players will be put under the hammer from the next edition of the tournament," Shukla said.

According to IPL players? guideline, the franchises are not allowed to pay more than Rs 3 million to uncapped players, which was a cause of anger among many domestic players who were missing out on big monies due to the rule of having an India cap in order to be included in the auction pool.

Shukla said the reason BCCI did not auction uncapped players was due to the fact that franchises usually opt for well-known players.

"This (not auctioning players) was done to open up opportunities for little known domestic players as teams normally go for the known faces only," he stated.

He said the BCCI has "zero tolerance" towards corruption pointing out the suspension of five players caught in the sting operation pending inquiry. He also said a team of anti-corruption unit of ICC had been keeping a close watch on the players during IPL.

In the same breadth, he added that the BCCI was not responsible for the conduct of players off the field.

Shukla brushed aside the criticism by Member of Parliament and former cricketer turned MP Kirti Azad who had called for drastic measures to clean up the system.

"If 2-3 MPs call for ban, it can?t be taken as view of the House. IPL-V has been very successful and was watched in 192 countries across the world. Hence people are jealous. Will Parliament be closed if some MPs do something wrong? These MPs don?t know the pulse of the people," he told a news channel.

MUMBAI: Blow hot, blow cold. That could be the approach of Sahara India as it announced that it would walk out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and withdraw from all sponsorships under India?s cricket board, while founder-promoter Subroto Roy indicated later in the day that a reconciliation could be possible if the BCCI adopted a flexible approach.

"We are not rigid," was the quick response from Roy during a press conference when asked whether there is ground for reconciliation. Roy also said that he will think "twice" about his decision if there is player?s interest at stake.

Will the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Sahara Group reconcile? Well, that could or could not be a possibility but if the noises emanating from both sides is any indication, then a patch-up is not that difficult a task. After all, there is a lot at stake for both parties.

Talking to Indiantelevision.com, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said that the BCCI is open to reconciliation with the Sahara Group, which had bought the IPL Pune franchise for a whopping $370 million and sponsored the Indian team at a fee of Rs 33 million per Test match, ODI and T20.

The BCCI, of which IPL is a sub-committee, has not received any official notice from the Sahara Group on termination of contract.

"Whatever we have heard is through the media. We haven?t received any notice from them," said Shukla.

"They have been our partners for a long time, we can sort out the differences with them (Sahara)," he added, while stressing that the IPL cannot change rules for just one franchise.

He also found comparison between Champions League and IPL unfair since the two are different tournaments altogether. IPL is a qualifying tournament for CL T20, which involves top clubs from six cricket playing nations.

Sahara had in a media statement stated that the BCCI had bended rules during last year?s CL T20 by allowing Mumbai Indians to replace their injured Indian player with a foreigner which meant that the team fielded five foreign players instead of the rules permitting only four to be part of the final eleven.

The company had requested the BCCI to allow it to carry the prize purse of Yuvraj Singh, who has been ruled out of IPL season 5 due to lung tumour, into the players auction which the BCCI flatly refused thereby triggering a strong reaction from the Lucknow headquartered group.

The IPL chairman said that the BCCI would have given the same concession to any other IPL team who had qualified for Champions League if they had been confronted with the same situation.

"That is not just Mumbai Indians. We would allow other franchises in Champions League to avail that facility, but IPL is a different case. They (Sahara) should not compare IPL with Champions League," Shukla affirmed.

Shukla also hinted that the IPL might go back to the original format if things don?t work with Sahara. "The IPL was originally an eight team event and was quite successful," Shukla revealed.

Earlier in the afternoon, Roy indicated that Sahara would be accommodative if the BCCI changed its inflexible approach. He was responding to a question at a press conference held in Mumbai.

Roy then went on to recount instances wherein the company went out of its way to accommodate BCCI?s requests which the latter never reciprocated.

Sahara had issued a statement in the morning stating that it was unhappy with the BCCI due to the fact that they haven?t taken into consideration any of its suggestion like having an open player auction, which according to Roy would have given all the teams an even playing field and strengthened the IPL.

He was also annoyed with the fact that they had to pay the same franchise fee despite the BCCI cutting down on the number of matches to 74 instead of the 94 matches that was promised during franchise auctions.

Roy believes the franchise was paying 25 per cent more franchise fee due to the cutting down of total matches. The company had also requested the BCCI to take the matter to an arbitrator and sort it out but the BCCI refused.

He also clarified that the company?s decision to back out of Team India?s sponsorship had nothing to do with team India?s performance, but more with the fact that it did not want to deal with a body with which it had fallen out.

Meanwhile, the BCCI in a statement today made it clear that rules would not be bent for any IPL franchise. It would, however, still reach out to its long-term partner "as soon as practicable to clarify its intentions".

"We understand that Sahara Adventure Sports Limited has issued a statement in which it indicates an intention to withdraw from its involvement in Indian cricket, including as regards the Indian Premier League. We intend to contact Sahara Adventure Sports Limited as soon as practicable to clarify its intentions," BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement.

"If we understand Sahara Adventure Sports Limited?s statement, it intends not to participate in the 2012 IPL Auction or in the 2012 IPL Season," the statement added.

"During the last few days Sahara Adventure Sports Limited has requested that IPL vary its Player Regulations by allowing it to increase its Auction Purse from $1.6 million to $3.4 million in light of Yuvraj Singh?s unfortunate illness. Whilst all within IPL and BCCI have a huge amount of sympathy for Yuvraj Singh and wish him all the best for a speedy recovery, it is unable to vary the Player Regulations," the BCCI insisted.

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction, which will see 183 players from countries like England being auctioned to franchises, will take place in Bangalore on 4 February.

The proceedings, to start at 11 am, will air live on Max, the official broadcaster of the IPL.

The IPL Governing Council has shortlisted 183 players for the upcoming auction, including 25 Zimbabweans. England off spinner Graeme Swann has the highest reserve price of $400,000.
 
James Anderson and Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson were placed in the $300,000 bracket. Former Australian spinners Brad Hogg and Stuart MacGill and former Pakistan all rounder Azhar Mahmood have attracted reserve prices of $100,000.

The auction will be conducted by Richard Madley, a professional auctioneer from England who has conducted each of the previous IPL player auctions.

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said, ?Fans of the sport, based in India and elsewhere, will be following the happenings with a lot of interest. The auction sets the stage for what promises to be an absorbing fifth season of the tournament. The developments during the first trading window have given us an idea of the varied pproaches that the teams have adopted for the forthcoming season. The Auction will give us a deeper insight into the same.?

The opening match of IPL 2012 will take place on 4 April in Chennai.