IPL considering multi-team contracts for players in boost to the Hundred

Exclusive: Indian owners buying stakes in eight 100-ball sides could use overseas stars from affiliated franchises in English competition

Indian Premier League franchises could sign players to multi-team contracts which include the Hundred, as part of plans being discussed to help the English competition lure the world’s best talent.
The selling of stakes in the eight Hundred teams is continuing, with the next phase beginning on Oct 18 and new investment potentially in place by next spring. Prospective investors who already own IPL teams have held discussions with the England and Wales Cricket Board over whether they could sign players as part of multi-team deals across a raft of leagues.
Allowing Hundred teams to sign cricketers as part of their multi-franchise deals is likely to attract a higher calibre of overseas player. A significant amount of top talent has preferred Major League Cricket, and even Canada’s Global T20 League, which take place at a similar time in the calendar. This year Australia quartet Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith and New Zealand’s Trent Boult and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada were among the stars to appear in Major League Cricket who did not play in the Hundred.
Reforms to the recruitment for the Hundred could now result in IPL owners who invest in the competition contracting players as part of multi-team deals. For instance, Mumbai Indians contract Boult, Rabada and Rashid Khan to their franchises in both South Africa and the United States. Similarly, Kolkata Knight Riders contract West Indies spinner Sunil Narine to their teams in the Caribbean, the UAE and the US – as well as their IPL franchise.
In such cases, any IPL sides who bought stakes in Hundred teams might now seek to extend their relationship with the players to the English league. The new recruitment rules being considered are viewed as making the Hundred more attractive for IPL teams.
The Hundred’s current recruitment rules do not allow teams to sign players as part of multi-team contracts, with all signings made through the draft system. But the competition is exploring allowing each team to make direct signings in the future – meaning players are signed individually, not through the draft.
Crucially, any direct signings are not expected to count towards the main salary cap. This could allow leading players to be paid far more than is currently the case. Top salaries in this season’s men’s competition were worth only £125,000, less than the most in-demand overseas players could earn in Major League Cricket. Shaheen Shah Afridi withdrew from his contract with Welsh Fire this year after receiving a more attractive offer from Canada’s Global T20.
While contracts across multiple leagues are relatively rare, they allow franchises to build continuity between their sister teams. They can also give players more stability.
IPL sides believe the changes could enable them to include the Hundred among any multi-team contracts that they negotiate. Eight of the 10 IPL franchises already own at least one team in a league outside the country, and are keen to keep the same stars across multiple sides. But investors who do not also own Indian teams might feel at a disadvantage if IPL sides secured players through these deals.
Richard Gould, the chief executive of the ECB, admitted in July that the Hundred had to find ways to entice more top-tier talent in a congested global schedule. “We need to be able to ensure our best men and women players play and we can attract the best overseas players,” he said.
Jos Buttler is among the leading English players who already represent an IPL-owned franchise in multiple competitions, playing for Rajasthan Royals in India and Paarl Royals in South Africa. English players are unlikely to be impacted by the Hundred changes, with the direct signing system only expected to apply to overseas players.
The potential changes would also not affect the Hundred’s prospects of being able to field Indian players, with no indications of the Board of Control for Cricket in India relaxing its ban on domestic players appearing in foreign leagues.