The format of the Indian Premier League has been changed with effect from the 2011 edition of the tournament. For the next three years of the tournament, there will be 74 games that will be played instead of the 60 matches that were played last year.

However, this figure of 74 is much lesser than the 94 that had earlier been planned. All teams play 14 league games, including seven at home and seven away, and at the end of the league stage, there are four play-offs that decide who the winner is. There are ten teams in the tournament, including the two new ones, IPL Pune and IPL Kochi.

The IPL Governing Council also decided that the eight sides which have been a part of the tournament from the very start, will be allowed to retain four players each. While the two new teams will not be allowed to retain any players, they can buy up to four players from the market before the auctions take place.

The total allowed spend for each team has been pegged at $9 million but if the teams decide to retain/buy the four players outside the auction, they will be left with only $4.5 million. The auction will take place in the second week of November. The top three in the IPL next year will feature in the Champions League T20 in 2011.

The Champions League T20, 2010, which starts from September 10, has Royal Challengers Bangalore going into the tournament as favourites. SportingBet offers 9/2 for their win. Both Mumbai (5/1 at Stan James) and Chennai (5/1 at William Hill) are joint second-best, whereas New Zealand’s Central Districts are last at 33/1 (Bwin)