Pricey Sunny out of IPL

Lalit Modi is not the only one out of the IPL. Cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar will not be in the council when IPL-4 begins.

The BCCI has decided that Ravi Shastri and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi will be the two cricketers deciding on playing matters, that too in an honorary capacity. The move will become formal once Pataudi gives his consent to serve without the `1 crore net (tax-free payment) that each of the three cricketers got in the first three editions.

It is learnt that Modi had promised to increase the payments to the cricketers on the council on a differential scale, with as much as an additional million dollars going to the top player.

That did not go down well with the BCCI, which wants to change the structure of the IPL by making it a subsidiary tournament under its aegis instead of letting it be run by a sporting czar like Modi.

With Mr Sharad Pawar, ICC president, not in a position to lend his voice in BCCI matters now, Gavaskar may have been isolated. It is believed that he may become a mentor figure for one of the two new teams that are slated to join in season 4.

It is thought that Gavaskar will in some way be attached to the Kochi franchise while also being in a position to retain his commentary position as a freelance commentator.