The Indian Premier League (also known as the DLF Indian Premier League and often abbreviated as IPL), is a Twenty20 cricket competition created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and chaired by the Chairman & Commissioner IPL, BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi. It is now the most watched domestic Twenty20 competition in the world. The first season of the Indian Premier League commenced on 18 April 2008, and ended on 1 June 2008 with the victory of the Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in the final at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Because the second season of the IPL coincided with multi-phase 2009 Indian general elections, India's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) refused to commit security by Indian paramilitary forces. As a result, the BCCI decided to host the second season of the league outside India.According to Lalit Modi, all the 59 matches of the second season, abbreviated as IPL 2, will take place per schedule. England and South Africa were the front-runners to host the league. It has now been decided that South Africa will host the second series of the IPL from 18 April. BCCI blamed the attitude of the UPA-led governments at the centre and in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for the decision. The second season begins at Cape Town on 18 April 2009 in South Africa. The official rules for the tournament are here. There are five ways that a franchise can acquire a player. In the annual auction, buying domestic players, signing uncapped players through trading and buying replacements. In the trading window the player can only be traded with his consent. The franchise will have to pay the difference between the old contract price and the new contract price. If the new contract is worth more than the older one then the difference will be shared between the player and the franchise selling the player. Some of the Team composition rules are: Minimum squad strength of 16 players plus one physio and a coach. No more than 8 foreign players in the squad and at most 4 in the playing XI.For the 2009 edition franchises are allowed 10 foreign players in the squad. The number allowed in the playing XI remains unchanged at 4. A minimum of 8 local players must be included in each team. A minimum of 2 players from the BCCI under-22 pool in each team. The players accorded "icon" status are: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag . The total spending cap for a franchisee in the first player auction was US $5m. Under-22 players are to be remunerated with a minimum annual salary of US $20,000 while for others it is US $50,000. Icon players are to be paid 15% more than the highest paid player in their respective teams.
