Icon player was a status given to five players of the
Indian Premier League. They were not a part of the first IPL players auction, which was held in 2008. They played for the team they were assigned to. The icon players received 15% percent more money than the highest-paid player of the team bought in the auction. As of the 2010 season, the clause pertaining to icon players has been removed on account of complaints by franchises with icon players that having these players was a handicap in the player auction. Initially there were four icon players designated by the Indian Premier League organizing committee:
Sachin Tendulkar for
Mumbai Indians,
Sourav Ganguly for
Kolkata Knight Riders,
Rahul Dravid for
Royal Challengers Bangalore, and
Yuvraj Singh for
Kings XI Punjab. Later, on the request of
Delhi Daredevils,
Virender Sehwag's name was added to the list.
Deccan Chargers also asked for Icon Player status to be given to
VVS Laxman, but he declined the offer in order to allow the franchise to spend more money on other players and still not breach the
US$5 million salary cap. The purpose behind designating the icon players is to ensure that top draw players will represent their respective city sides, which is important for the league to increase fan support and interest among the locals. It has been reported that all the franchises with icon players felt that having the icon player was a handicap in the player auction, as the money spent on the icon resulted in less room under the salary cap to purchase other players. For example, the presence of
Sachin Tendulkar as an icon player was cited as the main reason why
Mumbai Indians could not compete with
Chennai Super Kings for
Mahendra Singh Dhoni. ==Pakistan Super League==