NEW AVATAR OF IPL 3

Every passing edition of the Indian Premier League has rung changes to the delight of spectators and the owners alike.

1. NO ICON PLAYERS: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians), Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils), Sourav Ganguly (Knight Riders) and Rahul Dravid (RoyalChallengers) will lose their icon status Can they be traded now? Not this season, since all of them hold three-year contracts. From the next season, i.e. for IPL IV, they will be up for trading. Will they continue to be paid 15% extra? Not exactly. The onus of whether they should be given 15% more than the highest paid player in the team is entirely on the franchise.

2. NEW VENUES: Ahmedabad, Dharamshala, Nagpur and Visakhapatnam will be the new additions in the IPL calendar.Which teams will play there? Rajasthan Royals will play at Ahmedabad, Kings XI Punjab at Dharamshala, Mumbai Indians at Nagpur and Deccan Chargers at Visakhapatnam. How many matches will the new venues get to host? A minimum of two games. Again if the franchises want more they can schedule more matches.

3. MORE STRATEGY BREAKS: Unlike in the last season where there were two strategy breaks per match now there will be four such breaks. What will be the duration of these breaks? There will be two breaks of 2 ½ minutes per innings. In all, there will be four such breaks per match.Who will call for the breaks? The bowling captain has the option of calling for the first break anytime between the 6th & 10th over while the batting captain or the batsmen at the crease can claim the second break anytime between the 11th & 15th over. How is it different from last season? These breaks will consume 10 minutes per match, which is five minutes lesser than last season

4. MORE MATCHES: The total number of matches will now be 60, one more than last season? Why the increase? It is to accommodate the third place play-off. It will be played after the two semifinals.

5. MORE DOMESTIC PLAYERS: With the Indian Cricket League players being granted amnesty by BCCI, all those cricketers who had crossed over, get a chance to return to the fold. But their participation will be subject to certain BCCI guidelines, which will be finalized in soon. How much will they get? A minimum of Rs 8 lakh and a maximum of Rs 20 lakh per season have been fixed as their wages. Players with international experience to be auctioned.

6. NOC RULES CHANGED: Every foreign player will now have to get a No Objection Certificate from his board to play every season. What was the earlier rule? The NOC was applicable for only those players who had retired. They had to obtain it to play else they had to wait for two years to be eligible to play.