IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore appointed Virat Kohli as their captain for the upcoming sixth edition of Indian Premier League.

Kohli succeeds former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who was at the helm during last season.

Kohli’s appointment follows a productive IPL VI auction in which RCB strengthened their bowling line-up significantly and added capable all-rounders to increase the amount of flexibility in the selection of the playing squad.

“We are delighted to announce Virat as our captain. His hunger to learn, lead, motivate and set an example is unquestionable,” team owner Vijay Mallya was quoted as saying in a press release.

Virat is the 11th highest run-scorer in overall IPL history with 1639 runs and a strike rate of 119.28.

He has scored eight half centiries and is also the 3rd highest run scorer in Champions League T20 history.

“Glad to be appointed captain of RCB. I thank the owners for reposing their faith and I am looking forward to the challenge and the responsibility to carry the team to greater heights,” Kohli stated.

Off-spinner Parveez Rasool, who likes to consider himself as an all-rounder, on Thursday became the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to bag an Indian Premier League (IPL) contract.

He was signed up by Pune Warriors India for the 2013 season. Rasool, who was a star performer for the Board President’s XI by grabbing seven Australian wickets, was being chased by at least three franchises but he signed for the Sahara owned franchise.

Rasool’s 7/45 in the two-day practice game against the Australians in Chennai capped a good Ranji Trophy season for him. He picked up 33 wickets and also contributing 594 runs with the bat in seven matches for Jammu and Kashmir.

Rasool’s victims against the touring Aussies included opener Ed Cowan, wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade, and all-rounder Steven Smith. Rasool’s timely performance has given him an outside chance of being considered for the No.6 slot in the four-Test series.

There are several claimants to the position. Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane have been named in the squad for the first two Tests, and they have an in-form Suresh Raina, who has not been selected, breathing down their neck.

Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and Bengal’s Manoj Tiwary, who scored an unconvincing half-century in the Irani Cup, may also come into reckoning if the first choices fail. Another prospect Ambati Rayudu kept himself in contention with a strokeful 87 against the touring Australians. Rayudu had also scored a big century in the recent Irani Trophy final against Mumbai.

The hundred notwithstanding, Rayudu’s half-century at Chennai came against a strong Australian bowling attack comprising Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Jackson Bird.

Owners of Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals have been slapped with a fine of one billion rupees ($18.8 million) for alleged foreign exchange violations, media reports said on Monday.

The enforcement directorate of the ministry of finance has given the owners, who include Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra, 45 days to pay the fine or file an appeal.

“The foreign investment in the franchise was made in flagrant contravention of Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act,” NDTV news channel quoted an order from the directorate as saying.

This is the first major fine imposed on an IPL team by the government, which has been investigating financial and foreign exchange irregularities in the Twenty20 league.

The IPL has become a major event in the international cricket calendar, attracting the world’s most exciting players such Kevin Peterson to entertain large domestic audiences.

But it has also been hit by a series of financial scandals, and its founder Lalit Modi was sacked in 2010 following allegations of corruption and money-laundering.

Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008 under the captaincy of Australian spin great Shane Warne, but failed to qualify for the play-offs last year.

The IPL Season 6 will be held in April-May.

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla declined to comment.

With the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League set to kick off on April 3, the nine franchises in fray would like to put the finishing touches to the squads that will represent them in the twenty20 tournament.

However, ITC Grand Chola in Chennai is not expected to see a lot of action on Sunday as franchises have the broad framework of their sides in place and are only looking to fill spots where they are deficient.

Some of the franchises have come out the open about the strategy they will look to employ. For example, two- time champions and perennial favorites Chennai Super Kings will not look for any foreign players.

We want to develop our relations with the same players as they have understood the needs of the team and the management. The fans expect consistency from the players and performance and we need to deliver that,” Coach Stephen Fleming said.

The former New Zealand skipper will be looking for a good Indian bowler at the auction. We did not have a local bowling leader.

We are trying to rectify that for the coming season. We are looking for young bowlers are will fit in to our thinking,” he said.

Rajasthan Royals have the largest salary cap available at $ 7.7 million ( ` 40.94 crore). They would like to buy a good pace bowler like South African Vernon Philander or Doug Bollinger.

New team Sunrisers Hyderabad would like to strengthen their spin department and may go for Rangana Herath or Johan Botha.

Kings XI Punjab will look for a seamer to take advantage of the helpful Mohali conditions. Veteran Adam Gilchrist’s fitness is an issue and fellow Aussie Matthew Wade can be a good choice.

Pune Warriors India has had a forgettable time in the IPL so far. With Sourav Ganguly moving on, they will look to a senior player and the $ 400,000 price tag for Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting is unlikely to faze them.

Royal Challengers Bangalore has the explosive Chris Gayle in their ranks, but may need a middle- order batsman and a good spinner.

Despite the presence of Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai Indians have been plagued by an inconsistent top order.They can do with a good opener like Phillip Hughes.

Delhi Daredevils will lose Kevin Pietersen towards the end of the tournament when he tours New Zealand. With Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron out injured, they may need to bolster their pace bowling department as well. Champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look for a partner for speedster Brett Lee.

All this is just conjecture and one needs to wait till Sunday to see how the various franchises act to give themselves the best possible chance to emerge triumphant on May 26.

Slamming Cricket Australia’s rotation policy for players, former national selector Jamie Cox said those who are worried about fatigue should consider skipping the cash-rich Indian Premier League in April-May.

“The crux of the issue is that blokes get six weeks off a year under the (players’ association) Memorandum of Understanding and some of them choose to use that time to play T20 cricket,” Cox told ‘The Herald Sun’.

“If we are really serious it’s how do we co-exist with T20 cricket? Some have made the sacrifice. Mitchell Johnson has done that, Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting have foregone IPL contracts in the national interest and not cashed in on the riches but that is a big call to make,” he said.

Australia’s rotation of fast bowlers and key players such as Shane Watson has been criticised by former cricketers like Shane Warne, Allan Border and Brett Lee. All of them feel that it was easy to get a national call-up for even average players because of this policy.

“I know what AB and Binga are saying and that is the view and reckon that is probably the view I take as well,” said Cox.

“I didn’t get to play for Australia and don’t like the fact that some blokes seem to be getting games a bit easily. It irks me as well but having sat in the chair I know it is more complicated than just pick the best team,” he added.

Kolkata Knight Riders, winners of the 2012 edition of the tournament, will commence their quest to retain the title, on home turf. They will take on Delhi Daredevils in the inaugural clash of the competition at the Eden Gardens, on 3 April 2013.

One of the many highlights of the sixth edition of the tournament will be the debut of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who joined the IPL fraternity in October 2012. They will begin their IPL innings with a ‘home’ game against Pune Warriors India, on 5 April 2013.

The tournament will be played in the same format as the 2012 edition. Each of the nine participating teams will play the other eight twice, at home and away. The top four teams, at the end of the round-robin stage on 19 May 2013, will qualify for the Playoffs.

The Qualifier 1 and Eliminator games will be played at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai – the home ground of the IPL 2012 runners-up - on 21 May 2024 and 22 May 2024 respectively.

The Qualifier 2 encounter and the Final, will be played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata – the home ground of the IPL 2012 winners – on 24 May 2024 and 26 May 2024 respectively.

As many as eleven venues have been confirmed to host the matches. The nine home venues apart, matches will be played at two arenas that will be making their ODI debuts in January 2013. The last two ‘home’ games of the Kings XI Punjab will be played at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala, which has hosted seven IPL matches since 2010. The Jharkhand State Cricket Association International Stadium Complex at Ranchi, will host the last two ‘home’ games of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

“The countdown to PEPSI IPL 2013 has begun. We are poised to witness a competition that will be as, if not more, spectacular, than its predecessors. The greatest cricketers on this planet will join forces with the stars of the future, to deliver some exhilarating cricket for their respective teams. The teams will play hard, but fair, and the most consistent of the lot will be crowned the PEPSI IPL 2013 Champion on 26 May 2013,” Rajeev Shukla, Chairman, IPL, said.

Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Hyderabad team will be called Sun Risers from next season, it was announced on Tuesday. Sun TV Network, which bought the Hyderabad franchisee recently, have chosen this new name for their team from IPL 6.

On Tuesday, the franchisee’s official twitter account @Sun_IPL wrote: “Our team will be called as ‘Sun Risers’ from #IPL 2013. Spread the word ”

Deccan Chargers was terminated by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) this year and in the auction, Sun TV bought the team. BCCI had invited tenders for buying the Hyderabad franchisee.

Deccan Chargers, now defunct, won the 2009 edition of the IPL.

Recently, Pepsi won the bid to become the title sponsor from the next edition IPL. DLF ended its contract as title sponsor of IPL after five years.

In October, Sun TV bought the team for a five-year deal which will be priced at a total of Rs 425.2 crores. In 2008, Deccan Chargers was bought for a price of US $107 million (about Rs 428 crores for 10 years).

The Indian cricket fans might be engrossed in the England series but, without doubt, the contest they are all eagerly awaiting is the two T20 and three ODI series against Pakistan, starting December 25.

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) welcomed the resumption of bilateral series between the two teams after the government’s go-ahead, it has also decided to clearly demarcate their stance on the Pakistan team and Pakistani players.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council has discreetly informed the franchises, after their meeting on November 21, not to pick Pakistan players during January’s IPL player auction. It fears that any new controversy might completely tarnish the image of the IPL, though they have officially deferred the matter till the next meeting.

The IPL governing council includes Chairman Rajiv Shukla, Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shastri, Anirudh Chaudhary, MP Pandove, among others.

According to sources, the Board is wary of several factors, including recent spot-fixing allegations against Pakistani players, their off-field misdemeanors and the practical problem of providing extra security as well as threats of disruption from political outfits against their participation.

A top BCCI official confirmed to MAIL TODAY that the board isn’t keen on Pakistan players participating.

“We are trying to discourage the franchises against picking them during the auction. And there are obvious reasons for it,” he said without elaborating on the issues.

Pakistan players, including Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar and now-banned Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif all played in the first year of IPL but were released from their contracts subsequently.

Asif was banned for one year after being found guilty of using banned drug Nandrolone and later BCCI, in wake of 2008 terror attacks, had shut the doors on them.

Only Azhar Mahmood, a former Pakistan player was part of last IPL but he was picked as a British citizen.

The decision should come as a shocker to several Pakistan players who were hoping that resumption of ties could also pave their way to IPL riches.

Franchises though are quite comfortable with the BCCI mandate.

“There aren’t too many big players to pick anyways, and most of us have very limited slots. Maybe if those players were available, Saeed Ajmal would have been a major draw or Abdul Razzaq or Umar Akmal,” a franchisee owner said.

“But IPL was running well even without Pakistan players, and if the BCCI thinks its fine, we are fine with it.”

The player’s auction for the sixth edition of Indian Premier League will be held in January next year either in Chennai or Kolkata. According to sources in the IPL, the auction would take place either on January 12 in Chennai or eight days later in Kolkata. This was decided by the governing council of the IPL, headed by Rajeev Shukla, which met on Wednesday.

The participation of Pakistani players in the auction, paving the way for their re-entry into the cash-rich T20 tournament, will be decided by the IPL governing council at its next meeting before the players’ auction. Pakistani cricketers, who played in the inaugural season in 2007, were kept out of the IPL player’s auction since the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab has decided to pay a penalty of Rs 1 crore to the Cricket Board and bury their differences after they had dragged the BCCI to the court for arbitration proceedings following the termination their contract for alleged breach of regulations. “Kings XI has sorted out their differences with BCCI by deciding to pay the penalty,” a source said.

Kings XI Punjab will continue to be part of IPL pending the completion of the arbitration proceedings.