The Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi turned down the appeal from NBA stating that the latest demands can not be met under any circumstances and thus the boycott of the third edition of the Twenty20 by Indian news channels will continue

“The status of the NBA is quite strange. We had reached an agreement on a document that they had provided us and we signed it internally and got the governing council to approve it. “After lengthy discussions with the NBA we agreed that till June of this year we would allow certain amount of flexibility in terms of programming and in terms of use of footage. We also agreed what we had to do but some members of the NBA have come back last night and are asking for more. “After the approval of the governing council of the new guidelines day before Sunday and after a proposal put forward to us by the NBA jointly negotiated with Sony Television they have now asked us for further changes. That will make it extremely difficult for us to make further changes to the guidelines that they had proposed to us, so we can expect the ban to continue,” Modi said

Modi also added, “I think with the boycott of NBA, of course, the ratings should go higher without any doubt. All in all, it is good, because we expect higher ratings; people who want to tune in have to tune in to Sony, even if for a few seconds. We are not worried, we have no issues. Of course, it would be nice if the news channels came on board but not on the conditions that they have proposed. I have informed them that the conditions will not be accepted by the governing council of revision of their own conditions which they had proposed.”

In a landmark decision, BCCI President Shashank Manohar rejected Ravindra Jadeja’s appeal against a one-year ban for violating IPL’s terms and conditions

Ravindra Jadeja was banned from IPL 2010 as he tried to negotiate outside his contract with the Rajasthan Royals. Jadeja, though claimed in his appeal that he had received BCCI’s approval before looking for contracts with other teams.

“He (Manohar) did not want to set a wrong precedent, so he dismissed the request. So Jadeja now cannot play in the IPL (this year),” an IPL official said.

As per the IPL Chairman, Lalit Modi, IPL 2010 will have a five-minute period, split into two equal halves, for the mandatory strategic time-outs.

“The batting team would have to take the 2 and a half minute time-out mandatory between the sixth and eighth overs while the fielding side would have to take the time-out between the 11th and 16th overs,” IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said.

“We have found out that these are the times the batting and fielding teams normally rearrange their strategies. The players will not leave the field of play but would confer in the middle,” he said.

“We have a new partner for strategic time-outs, Maxx Mobile, and the deal is for three years from season three commencing on March 12,” Modi announced, adding “they will also be our official playoff partner”, without specifying the financial details.

In yet another setback, International news agencies may be forced to skip the million dollar cricket tournament IPL -2010 if the accreditation norms, which govern journalist and photographer attendance are not changed.

“Without changes international news agencies are bound to consider not attending this year’s event to provide editorial coverage. Newspapers in India and abroad are also known to be reconsidering their plans for coverage based on these arrangements,” – News Media Coalitio.

“As many publishers the world over rely upon news agencies for news material the stance taken by the IPL can only serve to limit news and free promotional value of their event and brand. The NMC reached a compromise agreement with the IPL for last year’s tournament and assisted in fostering productive relations between the IPL promoters and the news media. If media organisations feel forced not to attend this year it would set back the positive goodwill and relationship which characterised the event last year,” NMC added.

“We urge the IPL executive to engage in meaningful discussions to identify a solution in this area of press freedom concern. News organizations want the IPL to remove aspects of the terms and conditions of journalist attendance which seek to define news platforms that are acceptable to the IPL in terms of their ownership and/or the scope of their business operations. Other concerns relate to the imposition of updating quotas, which also need reconsideration,” it added.

Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi has shown confidence that no Australian player would boycott of the third edition of the Indian premier league.

“I spoke to a couple of the boys yesterday about it. I think they will all take part, The tournament will go on. They are very comfortable with it. Not all players have said they don’t want to come; some have had concerns and we have taken care of their concerns. There is nothing to be concerned about.” Modi told Australian Associated Press (AAP) on Tuesday.

The speculation has grown stronger after Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) boss Paul Marsh said that his players’ participation in the tournament is no certainty following a crisis meeting with the players and managers in Sydney on Tuesday.

“I think it is very difficult to say at the moment,” he said.

“There are some issues that have been raised; if the IPL can satisfy those issues then potentially the players will be in a position to go,” he added.