Gilchrist's IPL future to get a kick start

Adelaide, Jan 28 (UNI) After his retirement, Adam Gilchrist could well earn a lot more than his team-mates under Cricket Australia's (CA) contract by playing in the lucrative Indian premier league (IPL).

While Australia's top players will earn about 120,000 dollars each in tour fees if the trip to Pakistan goes ahead in March-April, Gilchrist could earn more in one IPL season that begins from April 18 than he would in a year from his CA contract and match fees.

IPL, as part of a plan to prevent players from curtailing their international careers to cash in on the Twenty20 tournament has insisted that players must obtain a no-objection certificate from their respective boards.

But Gilchrist's IPL future would be decided only if CA is willing to release the wicket-keeper as his contract still stands till middle of this year.

CA spokesman Peter Young last night said the board will hold a few more discussions before a decision on Gilchrist's IPL availability would be made.

''Adam Gilchrist is a Cricket Australia contracted player, and his contract runs into the middle of the year,'' Young was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald.

''In the normal course of events, the national team would be playing when the IPL commences, but we have just recently learned that Adam will retire from international cricket,'' he added ''At the moment, most of the talk has been about celebrating a great career, but we will discuss the issue of the IPL in the coming days,'' Young said.

The matter of concern at the moment is that the players could quit international cricket to join the IPL. The Twenty20 league has issued contracts worth up to 1 million dollars to players for a tournament that spans for only 44 days.

IPL has already received an expression of interest to play from Gilchrist for this season and will command a base fee of at least 300,000 dollars.

This figure could reach heights once the eight franchises which last week sold for 820 million dollars bid for his services.

UNI XC RAR RC RK1237