IPL started in the year 2008. The first player to be sold in IPL was Shane Warne. Rajasthan Royals became the first champion of IPL. But, do you know which player was sent the first contract of IPL? That player was Brian Lara of West Indies. But, left-handed batsman Lara put such a condition before BCCI, due to which his IPL career ended even before it started. He could never play in IPL.
BCCI’s big challenge to connect foreign stars with IPL
IPL was launched in the year 2008, after which a big challenge arose in front of BCCI to add foreign superstars of cricket from all over the world to this league. At that time IPL had no brand value, so BCCI paid a lot of money to bring big cricketers. He kept a cap for foreign players, which ranged from $50,000 to $4 lakh. Meaning, even if not much money is received in the auction, BCCI has guaranteed to give this much amount to the foreign players.
First contract to Lara, BCCI offered 4 lakh dollars
BCCI kept foreign stars like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne at a capped amount of $ 4 lakh. Like these players, BCCI had also offered Brian Lara 4 lakh dollars, which Lara rejected because his condition was that he was ready to join IPL on a guarantee money of at least 1 million dollars.
Lara demanded two and a half times more money, deal broken
The amount that Brian Lara asked for under the condition was not only double but also two and a half times more than the money offered by BCCI. But considering that Lara had just retired from international cricket, the amount he asked for to join IPL was not acceptable to BCCI. In this way, Lara could neither join nor play in IPL. Yes, later on he definitely played the role of coach and mentor in BCCI’s T20 league.