BCCI to auction uncapped players: Shukla

MUMBAI: Rattled by the sting operation which brought unethical dealings between domestic players and the franchises to the fore, the BCCI has decided to auction all uncapped players from next edition of the tournament.

"All domestic players will be put under the hammer from the next edition of the tournament," Shukla said.

According to IPL players? guideline, the franchises are not allowed to pay more than Rs 3 million to uncapped players, which was a cause of anger among many domestic players who were missing out on big monies due to the rule of having an India cap in order to be included in the auction pool.

Shukla said the reason BCCI did not auction uncapped players was due to the fact that franchises usually opt for well-known players.

"This (not auctioning players) was done to open up opportunities for little known domestic players as teams normally go for the known faces only," he stated.

He said the BCCI has "zero tolerance" towards corruption pointing out the suspension of five players caught in the sting operation pending inquiry. He also said a team of anti-corruption unit of ICC had been keeping a close watch on the players during IPL.

In the same breadth, he added that the BCCI was not responsible for the conduct of players off the field.

Shukla brushed aside the criticism by Member of Parliament and former cricketer turned MP Kirti Azad who had called for drastic measures to clean up the system.

"If 2-3 MPs call for ban, it can?t be taken as view of the House. IPL-V has been very successful and was watched in 192 countries across the world. Hence people are jealous. Will Parliament be closed if some MPs do something wrong? These MPs don?t know the pulse of the people," he told a news channel.