Gilchrist to play in Indian board's league

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Australia's Adam Gilchrist will take part in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament in April, the Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed on Friday.

"Gilchrist will play. He has already got a no objection certificate from the Australian board," IPL chairman Lalit Modi told reporters after the first day of the two-day meeting with representatives of the eight franchises.

The tournament organisers had agreed with most international boards, including Australia, not to choose players until they had been retired for at least two years and Gilchrist, 36, is retiring from international cricket next month.

But Modi said the Indian board has given the IPL governing body the powers to do away with the rules on the two-year "cooling off" period for recently retired players.

Australian players are in danger of losing their contracts because of a sponsorship row between Cricket Australia (CA) and IPL, however.

The CA want protection for its sponsors during the IPL, a request the organisers rejected.

"They will not get global sponsorship protection," Modi said. "No sponsor of any country, national team, will have any rights over the IPL under any circumstances," he added.

However, board spokesman Rajiv Shukla told reporters that the governing committee was to discuss the issue of availability of Australian players before the players' auction scheduled for later this month.

The league, expected to feature many of the game's top players, is an effort to counter an unofficial Indian Twenty20 league which began late last year.

The 44-day IPL starts on April 18. Teams will play home and away games leading to a grand final. The first year will feature 59 matches played in late afternoon for prime-time television.