Runs and wickets at the Indian Premier League's Twenty20 competition will not gain official recognition, cricket's world governing body said Tuesday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) regards the multi-million-dollar IPL, promoted by the Indian board and featuring top stars from around the world, as a domestic Indian competition, a spokesman said. "The IPL is not international cricket, it is a domestic tournament," ICC spokesman James Fitzgerald told AFP when asked if players' performances will gain official recognition. "Therefore, the matches do not have Twenty20 international status."
The IPL is a city-based tournament with eight teams bought by franchises who selected their respective line-ups via auction in Mumbai last month. The tournament, which runs from April 18 to June 1, will mark the first time international cricketers will put aside their national allegiances to play for privately-owned teams. Players have received huge pay packets, starting from 100,000 dollars for the first year, to take part in the 44-day, 59-match extravaganza across cricket-mad India. In a sport where only a few top stars net more than a million dollars a year in fees and endorsements for their respective countries, the IPL has showered unprecedented riches. The Chennai franchise bought India's limited-overs captain Mahendra Dhoni for 1.5 million dollars, while Hyderabad snagged Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds for 1.35 million dollars.
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