Stock option on cards for Deccan Chargers

A stock bonanza awaits Adam Gilchrist and his Deccan Chargers teammates who fashioned a great turnaround in the IPL franchise team's fortunes to win the title in the second edition of the Twenty20 League, in South Africa in April-May.

"As and when we go public we will set aside a portion of the stock for the players," Deccan Chargers chairman V Shankar said.

He said Deccan Chargers are waiting for the valuation of the two new teams, to be included in the IPL from 2011, before going public.

"Two new teams are to be added after IPL 3 (to be held from March 12 to April 25). We will wait for the prices they fetch (in the auction) and then go public to get the best valuation for Deccan Chargers," he explained.

Shankar had promised the players in the run-up to the tournament that they would work out a stock option scheme provided they climb the top-most rung of the ladder from the cellar position they occupied in 2008, the first year of the League.

"Cricket as a business brings in money only through Enterprise Valuation. Investors provide a high premium to obtain a stake. For you to see big money it is just not in the contract money. That could be big money for starters. The real money is in the shares," Shankar had told the players at Cape Town in South Africa on April 17.

"At the beginning of this address, I told you that we would be broad-basing our equity in the near term. If you can win the IPL 2, I promise you we shall work out a Stock Option Scheme which shall be exclusive for the players and possibly for the first time ever in cricket.

"There's so much at stake for you to win this IPL 2," he had told them, according to the book Not Just Cricket that the franchise released in Mumbai.

There was also an incentive bonus for the players based on their performance in the tournament. It was both tournament-specific and match-specific, according to the book.

The players were promised US $10,000 for winning the title, US $5,000 for reaching the final and US $2,500 for entering the semi-finals.

The match-specific bonus amount ranged from US $100 for every direct hit at the stumps in a run-out, for every catch taken or two stumpings done to US $1,000 for winning the man of the match award.

"The incentive bonus we shelled out after the tournament amounted to just over US $83,000," Shankar said.