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Mohammad Rafique and Mohammad Ashraful: IPL bound? © Getty Images

Players from every Test-playing nation barring England, whose season overlaps with the IPL. And, strangely, Bangladesh. You’d have thought at least a couple of them would come in handy in the big-hitting format, and perhaps pull in the crowds in Kolkata. Well, that may yet happen: The Delhi Daredevils have been in talks with Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, and could sign him up soon. "The talks are on," TA Sekhar, part of the Delhi management, told Cricinfo. "It has not been finalised yet." There’s also a bit of red tape to be untangled - the approval of the Indian and Bangladesh boards is pending – but it’s not likely to pose a huge problem for Ashraful who, if the Bangladesher Khela website is to be believed, turned down an offer of approximately US$1.5 million from the Indian Cricket League.

Meanwhile, Kolkata may yet get a star from opar Bangla (across the border). Mohammad Rafique, the left-arm spinner who has announced his retirement, says he has got feelers from Kolkata – and it may be an offer he can’t refuse. "Shah Rukh Khan [who owns the Kolkata team] called and asked me to play for his team. I was just awestruck by the call from my favourite hero,” Rafique was quoted in the Khaleej Times. "I told him I would be available after the South African series. Sourav Ganguly’s brother and the team’s agent have been keeping in touch with me. We will have final talks after the series.”

Balu Nayar, the man who helped shape IPL, will not be there to see it through its opening season. Nayar was the managing director of IMG India, the sports management company that was involved with the concept, design and monetisation of IPL. He is now starting a private equity fund on his own with the backing of a global investment major. Nayar is being replaced by Tim Wright, who has been roped in by IMG to oversee the inaugural tournament starting April 18. "An attractive entrepreneurial opportunity came up, and I felt that the time was right to move on," said Nayar.

In another IPL-related move, TA Sekhar, former India bowler, national selector, and the head coach at the MRF Pace Academy, is set to join GMR, the Delhi franchise, as vice-president (sports administration) from March 1. Sekhar has been MRF's hands-on head coach for the last 20 years and will remain associated with the Chennai-based academy as consultant.

Youngsters like Tanmay Srivastava don't have to worry about IPL contracts just as yet © Getty Images

The BCCI has stepped in to prevent the IPL franchises from signing India Under-19 players who are currently in Kuala Lumpur for the World Cup. Good move, say many franchise representatives, because it will help the junior cricketers focus on what they went there for. But what next, they ask.

“Will it be a free-for-all after the last ball of the U-19 World Cup is bowled?” asks a representative who had signed up two India U-19 players before the BCCI moved in to declare those contracts "null and void". "All we want," says the representative, "is clarity on the situation. We want the IPL organisers to come out with a clear-cut policy on recruiting U-19 cricketers. Otherwise, it will be chaos as usual.”

The IPL is creating ripples in areas many would least expect it to. The Economic Times reports that Indian insurance companies are now in a twist as franchises have begun to approach them for insuring players for astronomical amounts. And that's because the players’ contracts with franchises stipulate that the latter have to get an insurance cover of up to seven times the fee paid. In Mahendra Dhoni’s case, the insurance cover could go up to $ 10.5 million. The insurance firms in India are in unfamiliar territory when it comes to determining injuries to sportspersons, and are reportedly scanning similar models in the UK to decide how much is too much.

The IPL doesn't seem to have won Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, too many brownie points with his political rivals in India. Dubbing the auctioning of cricketers by the BCCI-promoted Indian Premier League as ''a gambling game of industrialists'', Bal Thackeray, Pawar’s friend and hardline party Shiv Sena’s chief, has called for a fullstop. North India-based JD (U) president Sharad Yadav lashed out at the league too: "It was a day of national shame when cricketers were put on auction. It is a vulgar display of wealth and shameless demonstration of money power."

The Marxists in Bengal haven't been too impressed either: Gurudas Dasgupta, veteran communist leader, demanded that the government ban that form of cricket and even investigate the source of funds for venture. It seems that Pawar, the union agricultural minister, has plenty on his hands.

Bollywood actor Preity Zinta, who owns the Mohali franchise, says she felt bad that they couldn't get Harbhajan Singh to play for them. "I felt bad that we couldn't get Harbhajan Singh on board," she told IANS. "His being from Chandigarh, to have him on board would've been nice. But Mumbai went hard for him, and so did we. But at least the good thing is, he got paid really well. A team is never made of one person. We had our budgets, and we had to stick to it. We wanted a team that was heavy with Indians. A lot of mathematics went into the game. Overall, I think we got a well-balanced team. And in the team format, no individual wins or loses. That's the best part of it.”

The IPL could encourage match-fixing if the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament is not brought under the purview of the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit, feels Tim May, the former Australian offspinner who currently heads Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA). "Any format that is more dependent on the performance of one player should represent a higher inherent risk for manipulation," May was quoted as saying by PTI. "The shorter the format, the higher the potential risk that a single performance can affect the overall result. The shorter the format, the more acceptable it will be for batters to be dismissed in a reckless manner.

"On the flipside of it is that the game moves so quick, it is difficult for parties to manipulate outcomes and adjust odds as the game progresses."