Pietersen will play for Bangalore Royal Challengers and Flintoff for the Chennai Super Kings. In the first round, Chennai bid the highest, $1.5 million, for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain.
“I was prepared to pay up to $2 million for Kevin Pietersen,” Vijay Mallya, owner of the Bangalore team, said in Goa today. “It was a conscious decision and we wanted him.”
Teams will be allowed 10 overseas players this season, up from eight in the league’s first edition. The clubs could spend as much as $2 million and choose 17 from among the 43 available players. Australia’s Michael Clarke opted out, citing a busy schedule.
“With the inclusion of these new players, we are better equipped to be a match-winner,” N. Srinivasan, managing director of India Cements Ltd. and owner of the Chennai team. “Last year, we were plain unlucky.”
The owners and sponsors are betting the cricket-crazy nation, with a population of 1.2 billion, will at least help match last year’s earnings of $200 million. The organizers raised $1.8 billion from sponsors, television rights and franchise fees before a ball was bowled in 2008. Investors include Bollywood movie actors Shah Rukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty and billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
‘Defying Recession’
“The IPL has defied the recession,” said Lalit Modi, chairman of the Indian Premier League. “Looking at the crowd today and the interest when Shilpa Shetty bought the stake in Rajasthan Royals, it is apparent that these games will attract crowds and will be a success.”
The event runs from April 10 to May 29, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals.
England team members will be playing for the first time this year. An agreement was reached last week that allows them to attend for a minimum of three weeks in 2009 and 2010.
Pakistan, which let 11 players to participate last year, won’t allow any in this year’s tournament because of security concerns, India.com reported, citing Saleem Altaf, chief operating officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Shetty, Royals
Shetty and Raj Kundra, chief executive officer of Dubai- based Essential General Trading LLC, acquired 11.7 percent of the Rajasthan Royals team that won the league last year. Shetty and Kundra paid $15.4 million for the stake, valuing the team at $140 million, according to cricinfo.com.
This “has proved once again that it is a prudent investment opportunity even in these unprecedented times of global economic crises,” Modi said earlier this week.
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