Sport - Cricket;BCCI to support CA in hosting Aussie version of IPL

The Indian Cricket Board Vice President Lalit Modi has extended every possible support to Cricket Australia in its endeavour to organise a world-class domestic Twenty20 tournament next year.
Inspired by the success of the Indian Premier League, the CA is planning to beef up its domestic Twenty20 competition by hosting a glittering event, featuring the world's best teams in 2009-10.
Ensuring his full support, Modi, the chairman of the Indian Premier League said Indians stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are free to play for Australian state teams if they wish to.
"We are very excited they are doing that. We understand they are looking at a franchise model, developing other models, too," Modi told ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
"We are keenly watching that and are most supportive of that. The Australian Cricket Board has been most supportive of the Indian cricket board. They have asked us already if we would release our players for that and we said yes," he added.
However, the marketing guru of the BCCI whose brainchild the IPL is, said CA can never never ask for share in the financial exploits of the IPL.
"It's a domestic tournament. When county cricket (in England) was going well for hundreds of years, we never got the spoils.
"You have to understand, Indian cricket never made money until three or four years ago. It was always England first, Australia second, South Africa third and then India would get a little bit of money. Our market has developed, our game has developed," he said.
Modi feels that cricket has the potential to have domestic Twenty20 competitions in the mould of major soccer leagues.
"I think if you look at the soccer leagues around the world, you have the English Premier League, you have the Bundesliga in Germany, the Italian, the Spanish leagues. You have rugby going on in various countries," he said.
"I think each country will develop talent. It may not be on the same scale as the IPL. It may not be eight, 10 or 12 teams, but it may be six teams in Australia."