BCCI launched the multi-million dollar Indian Premier League

Twenty20 is the flavour of the season and it received an official stamp of approval once and for all with the Board of Control for Cricket in India launching the multi-million dollar Indian Premier League here on Thursday.

The Indian league will be part of the Champions Twenty20 League which will feature India, Australia, England and South Africa and will be played in October 2008.

The IPL, to be held in April 2008, has been modelled on successful American leagues Major League Soccer and National Basketball Association wherein the eight teams will be like franchises. The teams will have corporate backing and will also get a share of centralized revenue.

The venture not only has the full support of the International Cricket Council, it already has roped in three big names in contemporary international cricket.

Australian legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath and former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming have agreed to be a part of Indian Premier League.

What is staggering about these two projects is the money involved. The Indian league will carry a prize money of $3 million while the world league, named the Champion's Twenty 20, will carry a total prize money of $5 million with the winners walking away with a cool $2 million. The IPL will be played across eight metropolises and each side will comprise of 16 players. There will be a minimum four under 21 prospects per side and between two and three international stars.

Like the football leagues in Europe, transfers and drafts will be a apart of the Premier League. Players like Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar will get to choose the ‘franchises' they would like to represent and the sides can later on ‘sell' them to other teams.

The IPL will be played on home and away basis and will have a total of 59 matches played over 44 days. The top two teams from India will then vie for the $5m Champion's Twenty20 in October 2008 and will be played over nine days. The Indian league will be run by a governing council that will have BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi as its convenor. Former BCCI president I.S. Bindra, former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.