IPL-5 to have nine teams: Governing Council

Hyderabad: The Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council on Friday confirmed that its fifth edition will have nine teams competing, adding that the new format would be worked out later on.

The other issue expected to dominate the proceedings of the meeting is the fate of the players of the Kochi team which was axed from the IPL.

The BCCI had voted to terminate the Kochi franchise at its annual general meeting last month. The Kochi players' salaries were covered through the franchise's bank guarantee worth Rs 156 crores (already encashed by the BCCI) yet the question remains how leading players, both international and domestic, such as Muthiah Muralitharan, Brendon McCullum, Mahela Jayawardene and Parthiv Patel, will be made available to the franchises.

Another move in the pipeline, could be the increase in the number of foreign players in a team from four to five.