Player count up for IPL second season

The IPL has released the final squad lists of the eight franchises even as doubts persist over the staging of the league's second season. A total of 263 players have been picked - 73 more than in the first year - indicating that the franchises have cast their net wider this time.

The teams have had more time to scout for talent this year compared to the last-minute exercise the first time around. They have also got to pick as many players as they want since the IPL imposed no limits. Even so, most teams number around 25, except Kolkata Knight Riders which has submitted a staggering 56 names - more than double that of Delhi Daredevils, who have the smallest squad at 24 players. But Kolkata are waiting for their coach John Buchanan to arrive on March 17 and prune the squad to 25.

If the inaugural edition of the IPL was a grand success, this year it has attracted contracted revenues of more than Rs 10,000 crore - Rs 1725 crore more than last year - thus beating the recessionary trends across the globe. Likewise, the teams have increased their expenditure and roped in more players from abroad as well as India - there are 80 overseas players compared to 66 in 2008 while there are 59 more Indians than the 124 who played last year.

Being a domestic tournament, one of the IPL's objectives has been to focus on local talent. In this regard, most teams decided to leverage the potential by organising talent-scouting camps around the country which threw up some unique talent.

One such case is Sanju Samson, probably the youngest player in the tournament at 14-and-a-half. A wicketkeeper-batsman from Kerala, Samson impressed the Kolkata scouts with his "giant' potential. And even if he eventually fails to make final squad, the team wants to provide Samson exposure to the big league.