Each IPL squad must have minimum of four under-22 players

Mumbai:
Each Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise squad must have a minimum of 16 players per squad, according the rules of the Twenty20 tournament starting April 18.

A squad can have a maximum of eight foreign players, but it can pick a maximum of four in the playing XI, as per the rules announced by the IPL council a day ahead of the players' auction here.

Each of the eight squads will consist of a minimum of four under-22 players. These players must be under the age of 22 years April 1 of the relevant season.

The auction rules stipulate that each squad should have a minimum of four catchments area players -- the under-22 players and the Indian national team players if so qualified can be counted for purpose of this rule.

The catchments areas are defined by reference to a player's registration with his local cricket association. They are:

* Mumbai (catchments areas Mumbai, Maharashtra and Vidarbha)
* Bangalore (Karnataka, Goa and Services)
* Chennai (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Railways)
* Kolkata (Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura and associate member Sikkim)
* Hyderabad (Hyderabad, Andhra and Orissa)
* Delhi (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh)
* Mohali (Haryana, Punjab, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir)
* Jaipur (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Baroda and Saurashtra)

The minimum salary for under-22 players is $20,000 per year. For other Ranji Trophy and non-auction players, it is $50,000 per year.

Each franchise must spend a total of at least $3.3m on players' fees for the 2008 season.