IPL Governing Council to meet on Jan 5

The Indian Premier League's Governing Council will meet in Mumbai on January 5 to discuss details of the player auctions, on January 8-9 in Bangalore.

"The IPL Governing Council is to meet on January 5 evening at the Mumbai Cricket Association's Bandra Kurla Complex. They are expected to discuss the player auctions," a Board of Control for Cricket in India source said.

With the deadline for IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals to give full disclosure to the Bombay High Court about its ownership pattern and payment of guarantee money fixed by the court to the BCCI ending today, the Governing Council is expected to take stock of this situation too.

The opening match of IPL 2011 will take place on April 8 in Chennai.

As many as 350 top cricketers from India and abroad will go under the auctioneer's hammer in Bangalore with the IPL franchises bidding for their services in the fourth season of the lucrative Twenty20 League.

Barring a dozen players, including Indian superstars Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag, who have been retained by five franchises in advance of the auction as per the IPL player regulations, most of the world's top players would be up for grabs.

The list of players has 11 out of 12 century makers in the previous three IPL seasons, including the Twenty20 league's fastest century hitter Yusuf Pathan and 2010 ICC ODI Player of the Year, A B de Villers (South Africa).