The Indian Premier League, promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, will be quite a money spinner for cricketers playing in the Twenty20 league.

The auctions are slated sometime in February, though the exact date is yet to be announced. Expectations are that stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh will rake in close to Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore in just one season of 59 match-days.

Under the rules, the four top stars will be bound to play in their home grounds in Mumbai (Tendulkar), Kolkata (Ganguly), Mohali (Singh), and Bangalore (Dravid), and will not be a part of the players' auction.

But their prices will be fixed so that they are paid 15 per cent more than what the most expensive player fetches through the auction process.

Industry sources estimate that the other Indian players like Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa and S Sreesanth will command around Rs 40 lakh for one year.  M S Dhoni, the captain of the Indian Twenty20, may go in for Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore.

Overseas players are expected to rake in between Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.5 crore each season.

The teams have a lot to choose from. Among the international stars to play in the IPL will be Australian fast bowler Brett Lee and retired spinner Shane Warne, stars from Pakistan like Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and South Africa's Shaun Pollock, among others.

A team also needs to include emerging local talent, and young regional players may earn close to Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, said sources.

It is said that the BCCI has informed the eight team-owners that each of them has to spend $50,000 on each player in 2008, and a total of $3.3 million in 2008 on the entire squad.

At the moment each senior cricketer plays up to 45 match days in domestic cricket (if his team is successful), taking the annual match fee earnings of local players up to Rs 16.2 lakh.

The BCCI announced that domestic cricketers would be paid Rs 36,000 per match day in the current financial year, from around Rs 26,000 per match day in the last fiscal.

Spending Spree:

• Each team owner to spend a minimum of $3.3 million on the entire squad of 16 in 2008.
• Each player should get a minimum of $50,000 in 2008.
• Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid to earn 15 per cent more than the highest player fee. Expected to rake in Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore.
• M S Dhoni to get around Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore per season.
• International players like Shane Warne will earn in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore per season.
• Players like Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa and Sreesanth are expected to command around Rs 40 lakh for one year.
• Young regional talent may get nearly Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.

Note: The bidding process will be held only in the first year of IPL. In the years that follow, team owners will have to source players directly.