Ponting likely to join IPL
The Australian skipper says that he along with 7 other players from Down Under are likely to sign up for the Indian Cricket Board's Twenty20 competition next year.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting said Monday that he and up to seven other players from Down Under were likely to sign up for the Indian Cricket Board's new Twenty20 competition next year.
"There are a few things from what I saw in the contracts and everything that need to be worked out and smoothed over before all of us sign but I think it will happen," Ponting told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"It's a very lucrative thing at the moment and a very attractive thing for four to six weeks out of your year."
Vice-captain Adam Gilchrist on Sunday became the first Australian player to confirm his participation in the league, ABC said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is trying to squash a rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) series by setting up its own league, backed by the International Cricket Council and supported by boards around the world.
Both set-ups have promised an array of world-class players, with the BCCI's Indian Premier League saying it has signed on Test captains Graeme Smith of South Africa, Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, Shoaib Malik of Pakistan and the entire Indian team.
The best the ICL has managed so far are retired international stars, headed by West Indian great Brian Lara and Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq, along with a slew of domestic has-beens.