IPL rings in more changes

More teams, pink balls and agreeing to the world body's Anti-Corruption Unit's supervision are a few innovations that have been agreed upon.

NEW DELHI // The Indian Premier League organisers have voted to come under the supervision of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACU) next season and to add two new teams and also trial pink balls in 2011. The IPL governing board said seven of the eight existing teams had voted in favor of expanding the league to 10 clubs in 2011. The addition was part of the few decisions that were agreed during a three-day meeting in Bangkok.

Among those were that teams will be allowed to trade players, will be able to use four fielding substitutes, and that any ball delivered above waist height will be declared a no-ball. The Pakistan players taking part in the League were also given a harsh deadline to get government and visa-related clearance by November 20 to confirm their places for the respective franchises or make themselves available for an auction next February. The concept of auction in itself is under debate and the management decided to go over the issue later.

The IPL authorities are also planning to investigate harsh sanctions for players who signed IPL contracts but did not fulfill them. The inaugural edition of the IPL was held in 2008, but this year's edition was shifted from India to South Africa to avoid a clash with India's national elections. The 2010 tournament is scheduled to start in March. The IPL has been a marketing hit for cricket, with the leading players from around the world signing rich contracts to play for high stakes in the shortest form of the international game.

Because it is essentially a domestic league run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the competition has not been required to be supervised by the ICC's security unit but the organisers have gone ahead to take the ACU's help this time. * AP