Indian Premeir League Commissioner Lalit Modi on Tuesday ruled out lifting the salary cap on the franchisees from the second edition of the Twenty20 extravaganza.

Modi said in a statement that the players are legally bound by their three-year contract with their respective franchisees and they have to abide by that.

“The three-year contractual clause was made public to both the franchisees and players prior to the auction and the player’s participation.

“All the parties will abide by the terms and conditions laid down by the governing council and it is only up to the franchisee to trade a player/players as and when the trading window opens next year,” Modi said.

Presently, each of the eight franchisees can spend a maximum of USD five million for its squad, and players like Ricky Ponting has already opposed such moved, fearing it would lead to uneven contests.

The release said the players are bound by the contractual agreements signed with franchisees for a period of three years and new guidelines would be out soon before the transfer window opens early next year.

“…the DLF Indian Premier League will issue a fresh set of guidelines on the player transfer protocols for the next season keeping in mind the transfer window,” the release said.

“It would however, be the prerogative of the franchisee alone to take a decision to trade a player/players, when the trading window opens in the early part of 2009 just prior to the second season of the DLF Indian Premier League,” it added.

Franchises from the Indian Premier League will get first priority over players for the proposed Champions League, and any team that fields a cricketer from the unofficial Indian Cricket League will be automatically disqualified from the international Twenty20 competition, Lalit Modi, the chairman of IPL, has said.

However, Modi told Cricinfo that the Champions League was “still a long way away” and what has been agreed upon by various boards so far is “only an in-principle agreement” to host such an event. “The venues have not been decided, the dates are still open and we are trying to host the event this year,” Modi said.

The England and Wales Cricket Board had on Saturday issued a press release which said that the ECB, Cricket Australia, the BCCI and Cricket South Africa had “reached an agreement for the staging of the inaugural Champions League this autumn” for a top prize of US$ 5 million. However, Modi said he would be able to provide a clear picture only after the BCCI’s working committee discusses the issue during a meeting scheduled on June 22.

Asked about the Champions League’s regulations, Modi, who is also a vice-president of the BCCI, said that “it had been clearly resolved earlier” that the IPL franchises would get priority over cricketers in their team. But the franchises will have to pay a “relieving fees” to the player’s state team if both have qualified for the event, he said.

Elaborating on the case of Michael Hussey, who is caught between Western Australia and Chennai Super Kings for the Champions League, Modi said, “In the case of Michael Hussey, Chennai Super Kings has the option to keep him and pay a relieving fees to Western Australia. The option is with Super Kings.”

However, players like David Hussey, whose IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders, failed to qualify for the Champions League, will have to play for Victoria, he said. “In case of David Hussey, he has to play for his home team if his IPL team has not qualified. If his home team has qualified, which it has, then he plays for them. The county option is his third fall back,” Modi said.

Modi also clarified that “any ICL player playing for any team automatically disqualifies that team from participating” in the Champions League. “No exceptions will be made under any circumstances,” Modi said.

Currently, about 24 ICL players have been signed up to play for various English counties – the top two Twenty20 teams from England will join Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings from India, the Titans from Pretoria and KwaZulu Natal Dolphins representing South Africa and Western Australia and Victoria from Australia in the Champions League.

The inaugural Champions League tournament, involving the domestic Twenty20 finalists from England, Australia, South Africa and the IPL, will take place over a 10-day period in late September and early October with US$5 million on offer for the winners.

The fine detail is yet to be confirmed, but Cricket Australia are currently drawing up the regulations which will deal with the issues of Indian Cricket League players and potential conflicts for players involved with more than one team.

It is possible that the Indian board will be generous towards ICL players after the success of IPL. It was also agreed, verbally, between the boards that foreign players will turn out for their local teams in the tournament. That undertaking was sought by the England and Australia boards at a meeting in Singapore.

However, it has been confirmed the event will feature 15 matches over 10 days, and will take place in either the Middle East or India. Alongside the huge sum for the winners, there will be significant prize money for the teams finishing second, third and fourth.

Stuart Broad, the England quick bowler, is excited by the move. “It’s certainly an incentive for domestic sides to take Twenty20 seriously which can only help the international team,” he said after the third day’s play against New Zealand. “I’ve always thought Championship cricket is the priority because it develops players for Test cricket and that’s the ultimate. But this could change the emphasis.”

Western Australia and Victoria from Australia, Rajasthan and Chennai from the IPL along with the Dolphins and Titans from the Pro20 in South Africa have already qualified. They will be joined by the two finalists from the English Twenty20 Cup, which starts next week.

Following meetings late last week between the ECB, represented by chairman Giles Clarke and chief executive David Collier, Cricket Australia’s chairman Creagh O’Connor and chief executive James Sutherland, an agreement was reached yesterday between Clarke, IPL commissioner and BCCI representative Lalit Modi, and Cricket South Africa president Norman Arendse.

“We are extremely grateful to our great friends from Australia, India and South Africa for their hard work and determination to get this tournament off the ground,” Clarke said. “The Twenty20 Cup will be even more fiercely contested this season in the knowledge that the two teams who reach the final will qualify for the Champions League and the chance to win US$5 million.”

This event throws up a number of potential conflicts, not least involving an players linked to the unofficial ICL. Chris Read, Vikram Solanki, Stuart Law, Niall O’Brien and Paul Nixon all appeared in the ICL, and if their counties qualify their inclusion will be a major conflict with the Indian board.

The other issue that will occur is involving players who are contracted to more than one of the teams involved, for example Mike Hussey who played for Chennai in the IPL and is also from Western Australia. The clash could also happen with overseas players in county cricket, for example David Hussey, who plays for Nottinghamshire and Victoria.

Somerset chief executive Richard Gould admitted to Sky Sports News: “We’ve already had some discussions and we’re basically looking to mirror what the IPL contracts are. It was first mooted at the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and it’s taken a while but now it’s there, I think it’s brilliant for club cricket. It gives it much more juice.”

Punjab seamer Manpreet Gony, who was on Saturday drafted in the India ODI squad for the Bangladesh tri-series, said a successful IPL stint has made him a better bowler and he was looking forward to give his best in his first national assignment.

“IPL has given me great exposure. You rarely get a chance to bowl to so many world class batsmen and this experience has made me a better bowler. (Chennai Super Kings) coach Kepler Wessels made a slight adjustment to my action, helped me hit the deck harder and bowl at right areas.

“But, I will look to have a fresh start when I bowl in the tri-series, where I will also get opportunity to bowl a longer spell which should help me show my abilities,” Gony, who has played just five first class matches, said.

Gony, who replaced in the ODI squad after pacer S Sreesanth was ruled out due to a side strain sustained in an IPL match, described the national call-up as a dream come true. “It is like a dream come true. It was always my dream to play for my country. When I got the call from a BCCI official informing about my selection in the team for the tri-series, my joy knew no bounds,” said the 24-year-old right-arm seamer.

The 6′4″ tall cricketer from Mohali, who took 17 wickets from 16 games in the IPL, does not seem to be bothered about pressure of making India debut, though he adds “only pressure on me will be to perform well”.

Gony said he was surprised when he was bought in the IPL players’ auction by the Chennai Super Kings team owners.

“After an ordinary first class debut, getting the call from an IPL franchise came as a surprise. However, I feel taking eight wickets in two Deodhar Trophy matches for North Zone helped me catch the eye of the team owners. IPL has been a great learning experience for young cricketers like me. Though schedule was hectic, but I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it,” he said.

Gony praised his Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni for showing faith in him during the Twenty20 extravaganza.

“My skipper showed great faith in me. He is a real guiding force and all the players enjoyed playing under him. In addition, (South African pacer) Makhaya Ntini used to interact with me regularly and I got the opportunity to talk to many international players which also helped me a lot,” he said.

Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by three wickets (and off the last ball) in the final of the inaugural Indian Premier League at the D Y Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

Scorecard

Chasing a target of 164, Rajasthan began on a disastrous note, losing three wickets inside seven overs with just 42 runs on the board.

Niraj Patel (2) was cleaned up by Manpreet Gony in the fourth over and Swapnil Asnodkar (29) and Kamran Akmal (6) were dismissed in the space of three balls (of an Albie Morkel over), the latter needlessly run-out.

However, the in-form duo of Shane Watson (28) and Yusuf Pathan (56) put on 65 runs in just 45 balls for the fourth wicket in a partnership that brought Rajasthan back in the game.

Watson was impressive in his 19-ball knock, which had three hits to the fence, before he was cleaned up by a beautiful delivery from Muralitharan.

The Sri Lankan also snapped up Mohammad Kaif (12) off his final delivery (the last ball of the 17th over) and Morkel dismissed Ravindra Jadeja (0) with the very next delivery to brighten Chennai’s prospects.

Rajasthan were precariously placed at 139 for six, needing 25 runs with 17 balls left.

Then the worse happened. Pathan, who surived three chances to post his fourth half century of the tournament, saw his luck run out finally.

Pathan, whose 39-ball knock contained three hits to the fence and four huge ones over it, was run-out to a direct hit by Suresh Raina.

But Rajasthan captain Shane Warne was not to be denied his moment of glory.

Rajasthan needed 18 runs off the last two overs and eight from the final over, bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Warne (9 not out) and Sohail Tanvir (12 not out) took their team home, the latter hitting a boundary off the last ball.

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals used their bowling resources intelligently to restrict Chennai Super Kings to a modest 163 for five wickets.

Royals skipper Warne won the toss, asked the rival team to bat first and then captained the side imaginatively with his field placings and bowling changes, never allowing the Super Kings to settle down on a slow-pace track.

The Super Kings owed their score mainly to an enterprising 43 by in-form one-down batsman Suresh Raina, who faced only 30 balls while hitting two pulled sixes and a four.

The UP left-hander, back in the Indian one-day team, built on a decent start of 39 in 5.2 overs provided by Parthiv Patel (38 in 33 balls) and Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (16 in 14 balls).

But his dismissal in the 17th over, when he threatened to cut loose, derailed Chennai’s plans for a more healthy total.

The most impressive bowler for the Royals was off-spinner Pathan, who grabbed three for 22 in two spells, while Watson accounted for the wicket of Raina.

The Super Kings, who had lost their two home and away ties earlier in the tournament against the same opposition, began their innings on a cautious note on a slow-paced track of low bounce on which the ball did not come on freely to the bat.

Parthiv and Sivaramakrishnan played it safe against Tanvir, who had grabbed six for 14 against them on May 4 at Jaipur.

Seeing the mood of the two openers, Warne removed the Pakistani left-arm pacer, the most successful bowler in the tournament, after only one over.

The run-rate perked up when Vidyut played an inside-out cover drive off Watson and then was lucky when his top-edge flew over the third man fence for a six.

Parthiv, coming into the match on the back of an unbeaten 51 last night in the semifinal against Punjab King’s XI, was content to see off Tanvir by facing five dot balls and then hitting his first four. He was also lucky to see his top edge off Munaf Patel race to the fence.

Warne replaced Watson with Pathan after five overs, in which 39 runs were scored, and the move paid off immediately when Vidyut pulled a short ball for Jadeja to bring off a fine front-diving catch at mid-on.

Warne rung in quick bowling changes to unsettle the second wicket duo of Parthiv and fellow left-hander Raina, who had powered their team to a nine-wicket win over Punjab King’s XI with an unbeaten century stand.

The 50 of the innings was raised in the seventh over and then Parthiv, after pulling off spinner Pathan for his fifth four, departed. He edged an attempted off-glide to wicket keeper Akmal who juggled with the ball before completing the catch.

In-form Raina, who made 54 not out against Deccan Chargers in his team’s last preliminary phase tie and followed it up with 55 not out against Punjab, continued his good run by stroking the ball well. He was hardly troubled by the spinners and pulled the great Warne for a six.

Morkel (16) also pulled Warne disdainfully for a six into the stands in the 12th over after the first 10 had yielded 75 runs. The South African all-rounder also swung Pathan over mid-wicket for his second six before he got out in the same over, 13th of the innings.

In trying to repeat the shot he ballooned a catch to stumper Akmal who took a tumble over Mohd Kaif, who also went for the ball, while managing to hold on to the sphere to provide Pathan his third wicket.

The 100 came up in 80 balls after which Raina swung Siddharth Trivedi, bowling his second spell, for a six. Later skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (29 not out in 17 balls) lofted Warne, bowling his last over, over the straight field for another six to take Chennai Super Kings to 117 for three with five overs remaining.

Raina fell in trying to clear the long off area and was caught just inside the rope by Jadeja after which Dhoni and Chamara Kapugedara added 20 runs before the latter holed out to the deep off Tanvir in the last over.

Dhoni, who hit a straight second six in Tanvir’s last over, and S Badrinath (6) remained unbeaten at the end of the innings.

Rajasthan were without opener Graeme Smith and made two changes to the side which won the semifinal against Delhi Daredevils while Chennai retained the side that won them the semi final against Punjab King’s XI.