Indian Premier League Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi today (May 19) described talks of lifting the USD five million cap forcing each of the eight franchise teams to limit their players’ buying power for next year’s edition as “hypothetical”.

“All players have been bought (by the franchise owners) for three years. All the teams probably have eight foreign players. It’s hypothetical (to say) cap will be lifted. The cap is applicable for years two and three,” he told in a media conference.

Reports that the cap may be raised by the IPL authorities has fuelled speculations that England batsman Kevin Pietersen would be signed up for an astronomical sum by one of the franchises.

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has expressed his opposition to lifting of the USD 5 mn cap as he felt that the scrapping of this benchmark for salaries could lead to robbing the Twenty20 eague of its competitive edge as franchises with money power would go on a buying spree.

“I have heard there may be no salary cap, but I am not sure if that will be good for the IPL. The more I have thought about it, it might be detrimental to the whole set-up. We want good, competitive cricket with lots of international players playing good, close games,” Ponting told the Australian media.

Source: (PTI)