Sehwag added to icon players' list, to play for Delhi

Mumbai, Feb 20: Virender Sehwag was today added to the icon players` list by a unanimous verdict and will play for the Delhi franchise owned by the GMR group, the Indian Premier League announced.

"Sehwag has been granted icon status after a meeting of the IPL with the eight franchises where the demand for this by Delhi was accepted by all the others. He will command the same base price (USD 400,000) like the other icons," said IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi here.

Modi added that following the withdrawal of the demand to make VVS Laxman too as an icon player by the Hyderabad franchise (Deccan Chronicle) he will not be part of this elite group of players who will play for their home city teams.

"Hyderabad franchise withdrew their demand for making Laxman an icon player," Modi said to indicate that the writsy and stylish player was free to be bid for and bought by any of the eight franchises at tomorrow`s players` action.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh have already been declared by the IPL as icon players and will not be bid for as they have to play for their respective city franchises of Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mohali.

With the naming of Sehwag as an icon player the number of players going under the auctioner`s hammer has been reduced to 77. Modi said the ground rules have been laid for the auction, to be conducted by New York-based auctioner Richard Madley.

"The auction will be done in sets separated by their specialities. And at the end of each set, there will be a break of 15-20 minutes for the franchises to redraw their strategy," he said.

Modi also said while four Australian players have opted out of the auction, the others will go under the hammer but may not be seen in the league if they are busy playing in the scheduled Test and ODI series in Pakistan.

"Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Haddin and Jason Gillespie are the four players who will not be part of the auction process. Three of them have withdrawn because of personal reasons," he said.

"It has been made clear to the franchises that the rest of the Australian players, who will be available for the auction, would not be able to play in the IPL this year if they are busy playing for Australia in the series in Pakistan," Modi explained.

"If Pak tour gets cancelled they will all play," he added.

Modi also said all the Indian players contracted to the BCCI (barring the icons) are available to be auctioned off after some misconceptions they had about the contract with the franchises were cleared.

"There was some confusion about the contract, about who will pay them (their salary). They have been told that they will be paid by the franchises and the BCCI will pay them in case of a default by the franchises," Modi said.

Bureau Report