Celebrity IPL owners justify Indian cricketers' high rates

Indo Asian News Service

Mumbai, Feb 20: Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Vijay Mallya, celebrity owners of Indian Premier League (IPL) teams, Wednesday said it was natural that Indian players went for huge premiums as they were in a position to attract huge crowd to the playgrounds.
The IPL tournaments open in Bangalore April 18 and the finals will be held in Mumbai June 1.

India's young cricket stars like Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa and Ishant Sharma emerged brighter than the bigger and more established players from across the cricketing world. They were sought after like hot cakes by the eight-franchisee owner-bidders at the auction here Wednesday.

At a jam-packed media interaction in Hotel Hilton shortly after the end of the marathon auction sessions of IPL, the trio assured that the tournaments have been designed to ensure high international standards.

'This tournament will be in the same standards of the English premier league and it will be a huge success,' Mallya said.

Bollywood super star Shah Rukh, who owns the Kolkata team, said he was not so much worried about the returns from his team. 'I am not sure of what the returns will be. But it's a passion for me and I have full faith in my instincts,' he said.

Preity, the bubbly film diva, appeared pleased with the outcome of her Mohali 'catches' and endorsed Khan's opinions while talking about her passion for the gentleman's game.

In fact, even IPL chairman Lalit Modi expressed his pleasant surprise over the good rates commanded by Indian players vis-a-vis their foreign counterparts. 'I can just say that this is good for the Indian players,' Modi observed.

Stalwarts like Ricky Ponting (Kolkata) and Stephen Fleming (Chennai) were bought for $400,000 and $350,000 respectively even as Indian youngsters far outpaced them in the bidding figures.

Several others like Glenn McGrath, Simon Katich, Justin Langer, Ramnaresh Sarwan and S. Chanderpaul faced the ignominy of remaining 'unsold' in the initial rounds.