Some foreign IPL stars unpaid, says union

Saturday, 1 October 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NEW DELHI, (AFP) :The Indian Premier League has not honoured the contracts of some foreign stars and not paid them despite repeated reminders, the world players’ union said on Friday.

Simon Katich of Australia and Ramnaresh Sarwan of the West Indies were among “a number of players that are owed contract payments”, the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) said in a statement.

“A number of players whose contracts were ‘subsidised’ by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have recently contacted FICA to assist in recovering the amounts,” FICA chief executive Tim May said.

“Despite numerous attempts by the players to recover these amounts, not only do the amounts still remain unpaid, but the IPL/BCCI have recently failed to respond to communications made by the players and their representatives.

“FICA last month wrote to the (then) IPL chairman Chirayu Amin on behalf of the players to draw his attention to the matter, but to date neither we nor the players have received a response,” said May. The unpaid amounts relate to the third edition of the IPL in 2010, FICA said. Neither Katich nor Sarwan took part in the IPL that year, but remained under contract with the King’s XI Punjab franchise, since they were signed for three years after the players’ auction in 2008. May hoped the recent appointments of N. Srinivasan as BCCI president and Rajiv Shukla as IPL chairman would help resolve the issue.

“We trust that these two gentlemen will ensure that BCCI will address these payments as a matter of urgency,” May said in the statement. There was no immediate response from the BCCI on FICA’s accusations. The money-spinning IPL is also facing a government probe for financial irregularities that led to Lalit Modi, the league’s founder, being thrown out over graft charges.

The IPL revolutionised cricket when it burst onto the scene in 2008 with international stars, rapid-fire Twenty20 action and Bollywood glamour tapping into India’s immense appetite for the sport.