The Hyderabad franchise of the Indian Premier League(IPL), owned by Sun TV, retained 20 players in their initial squad for the 2013season of the cash-rich Twenty20 league, the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) said Thursday.
Sun TV has decided to retain six overseas players like DaleSteyn, Jean Paul Duminy, Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Chris Lynn and JuanTheron. The new owners have spent $5 million and still have a budget of $7million in their kitty.
"The franchises have clearly focussed on performance inthe IPL in making their decisions as to which players will form part of theirrespective core groups for the 2013 season. Each Franchise has room under thesalary cap to be able to sign additional players, either by trading or in theauction or, in the case of uncapped Indian players, by direct agreement withthe player in question," said Rajeev Shukla, IPL chairman.
Each franchise has a salary cap of up to $12.5 million tospend on their 2013 squad of up to 33 players, of whom a maximum of 11 can befrom overseas. Only four overseas players can figure in the starting XI for anymatch. Nine IPL franchises have retained 179 players.
The trading window will open Monday. Franchises will also beable to sign uncapped Indian players, including the 52 players whose contractswere not extended.
The franchises now also have the option of re-signing theplayers who they took as temporary replacements in 2012.